Scars and Hearts
by ConnorRambles
Summary: Sara Ryder was a little bit of a mess, so leading a crew of outcasts and misfits seemed right up her alley when inheriting a galaxy's worth of responsibilities in Andromeda. Through the mysteries and chaos of Heleus though, she's got her own sordid past to sort out and work out. And at the heart of it all, one incorrigibly curious science officer could be Ryder's salvation...
1. Chapter 1: First Impressions

**So, this will be my first true attempt at a ship-centric story. Not quite my forte, but I love this ship too much to stay quiet. So...please be gentle? (Also constructive criticism is most welcome, since, again, not quite my forte)**

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The colonization of Prodromos was like a dream come true for hundreds of settlers and colonists in the Initiative. Eos, a planet so hostile and dangerous that it had failed the Initiative's previous two attempts to colonize on its surface. But the desert planet had been terraformed and made livable, thanks to the efforts of the Pathfinder, who made the third and final colony a reality.

With the planet's changes, as well as having an actual team on the surface to gather readings, Suvi had a whole set of new challenges herself. There was so much to go through, so much to collect and study. Even after leaving the colony, the Remnant structures continued to slowly alter the very essence of Eos itself. Atmosphere, temperature, humidity—anything and everything that a planet needed for a stable environment. The Remnant vaults were truly astounding in themselves. Time was of the essence when studying the full effects of how much the vault changed Eos. Whoever or whatever created the Remnant were truly inspired minds to say the least. Suvi couldn't help but wonder as to what their motives would have been—for the Remnant, the vaults, and the other structures. How much of Heleus was touched by their creations? What else did they have to hide?

Suvi shook her head to focus on her datapad and the information she was reading. Eos' science team was huge, and covered a variety of fields of study. They continued to transmit new information or new findings regularly, and Suvi was the first, and usually only one, to plow through the raw data in the Tempest's research room.

It helped that Prodromos was a scientific outpost—established at the behest of the Pathfinder. It was a relief that despite all the hardships of Andromeda so far that Ryder chose study and research over a military outpost, though neither choice seemed inherently wrong in the grand scheme of things. The kett were every bit as dangerous as the unusual nature of Andromeda itself.

The kett themselves were...interesting, to say the least. Suvi skimmed through most of the relevant data on their biology, since Lexi was more than eager to cover what readings and tissue samples Sara brought back with her, but most of her focus went toward their unique technology. Even if most of the salvage was smashed and broken, it still provided an indepth look at the first civilization, such as the kett were, in Andromeda. It was a shame that the kett were just naturally hostile towards anything and everything. There were so many questions that ran through Suvi's mind that only a kett could answer.

With any luck, maybe the next wave of kett salvage would have fewer bullet holes. Or at least something would get brought back that was in one piece. Then again, it was probably asking too much from a team that consisted of two Vanguards and one Liam Kosta. It was a miracle that there was anything left to bring home in the first place.

Suvi's thoughts were interrupted by the familiar hiss of the Tempest's automated doors as they opened for the Pathfinder herself, and the crew's newest, biggest addition, Drack. "...and I mean really, if it pisses off Tann, then I'm all for it."

The ancient krogan laughed like a scheming devil as he followed Ryder around the central table. Suvi took a few steps to her left to make room as Sara started typing away designated APEX terminal. She observed the Pathfinder curiously before taking a glance up at Drack, who paid the other human no mind.

"I'm surprised you're alright with this, Ryder. Tann would probably fire you if he found out you were giving me access to your fancy ship's computer."

Suvi felt her brow furrow with frustration as her curiosity for their scheme was growing, as was her general concern. Sara shrugged and stepped away from the terminal. "I don't think he has the authority to fire me. And if he wants to throw a racist hissy fit over you using a computer, then I'll just remind him how far his opinion goes on this ship. You know, when he's being thrown out of the airlock."

Drack laughed again as he took Sara's place in front of the strike terminal and started typing away with his large, claw-like fingers. "You're alright, kid."

Suvi remained silent, but observant, and more than anything, frustrated and still curious. She looked at Drack again before taking a step away from the research and development station. Her movement finally caught the Pathfinder's attention. "Do I want to know...?"

Sara smiled, almost looking apologetic, before lightly tapping her knuckles on the gigantic krogan's shoulder. "Drack has some scouts out in the wind and he wants to stay in touch with them."

" _Without_ those bastards from the Nexus looking at them."

"Barring SAM and maybe myself if you do plan that coup we were talking about." Drack grinned, which only made Suvi worry more. It was no secret that the leadership of the Nexus had been less than pleasant for the Pathfinder's arrival, but surely Sara didn't plan to bring down the initiative. At least not solely on Drack's behest. "SAM is setting up a secure channel that he can contact his scouts and his people through, without having to worry about Tann or anybody else being a nosy shit."

Based on what she had heard about the uprising, Suvi couldn't exactly blame Drack for not trusting the Nexus, or a majority of their leaders. Nor could she judge Sara for expecting open arms and a welcoming party, only to be met with a sea of troubles and a staff of bureaucrats telling her what an awful job she's only just started at. Addison in particular left quite the memorable impression on the Pathfinder. Perhaps Sara and Drack's mutual distrust of Nexus leadership—and kett, helped them get along.

It was all Suvi could do to fathom the things that not just Sara, but all of the Hyperion Ark had to endure before just making it to the Nexus. She had slept through most of the Nexus excitement, though waking up to a world of troubles was taxing in its own way. Sara had the worst of both experiences.

Everything seemed so simple when they left; travel to a new galaxy, settle on the golden worlds, make a new home. The Scourge, Remnant, the kett, even their own hub station—nothing in Andromeda was supposed to be as it turned out. Everyone had given up hope that things could change, until Sara proved them wrong.

"Alright, SAM says that's all," Sara finally said. "You can contact them from your omni-tool whenever you want, but if you need quality signal, you're going to have to come up here."

"Neat. Thanks, kid." Drack turned and lumbered out of the room without another word. Sara watched him leave before she turned to Suvi with a smile, undoubtedly trying to hide the tired look on her face. Suvi wondered when the Pathfinder last got a chance to sleep.

"How's everything going on Prodromos?" she asked. "Still there?"

"Still there, and still extremely busy." Sara's tired smile seemed more genuine after hearing the continued good news, but something was still off. "You look like you could use some sleep."

Sara nodded with a heavy sigh, "And then some. But you know what they say; no rest for the wicked."

Suvi smiled, "That's a shame." She looked up just in time to catch Sara's curious, perplexed look. "I just thinking Drack could use more beauty sleep."

The Pathfinder immediately broke out into a fit of laughter. Suvi couldn't help but to grin at Sara's reaction as she hastily tried to quiet herself with her hand. A few weak giggles managed to get past her fingers, but Sara's eyes betrayed the amusement she was trying to suppress.

"I didn't think it was that funny," Suvi said, practically mumbling.

Sara's hand finally dropped off of her face, but her lips were still curled up in a smile. "I'm tired, and it _was_ pretty funny. I needed a good laugh anyway."

"Happy to be of assistance," Suvi declared with a smile of her own. Sara stared at her a bit longer, holding her smile as her eyes eventually moved back to the APEX terminal. She took a second herself to study the Pathfinder's face, or at least what she could make out behind a veil of dyed, crimson locks of hair. "Pathfinder...?"

"Hm?" Sara's head snapped to almost immediately. Suvi took a moment to study the curiosities present on the Pathfinder's face—namely the faint series of scars that surrounded her right eye, and the unusual blue tattoo that covered her left.

"I was...curious about your tattoo?"

Sara smirked, "Not the scar?" Suvi knew she was being teased, but she wasn't quite able to think of a proper way to ask about Sara's facial scars. Then again, it would be almost impossible to wonder about one and not the other. "The short version is that my brother got a tattoo to match my scar, and then I got a matching tattoo. Just...reversed."

"That's sweet of both of you," Suvi said. She wanted to hear the long version to both stories, but decided against pressing the exhausted Pathfinder. Especially given that both topics likely treaded along the lines of the Ryder family history. Something Sara probably did not want to talk about, given her brother's condition. "Prodromos is off to a great start so far."

"Good..." Worry flickered across Sara's face. She was already second guessing herself. But nothing was certain, especially not with the rough start they've had.

"For whatever it's worth...I think focusing on science and research was the smart choice."

"I just hope it's the right one." And there was the problem eating away at her. Eos was not a forgiving planet, and everyone on Prodromos was in danger of attack from hostile forces, or even just a spike in the weather should the vault go on the fritz again. But the settlers of Prodromos were also people who were ready for work, just like Suvi when she volunteered to join the Pathfinder's crew on the Tempest.

"I think it was. We're here to explore and learn about this brand new galaxy. And all the things we've seen and experienced so far in Heleus? I think it's better to try and understand exactly what we're up against before trying to tackle it head on."

A faint smile returned to Sara's face, making Suvi smile in turn. "I appreciate the vote of confidence."

"It's more than that." She quickly entered a few keystrokes to pull up a holographic display of the Heleus Cluster for the Pathfinder to see. "Teams report that communications between the Nexus and Prodromos, and there are already plans to expand the colony once the worst of the radiation passes. APEX teams are helping the security teams assigned on Eos to thin out kett resistance in the area. We're even getting new scans of the Scourge, not to mention the rest of the research and data that's been flooding in. Also, the information you gathered in the Remnant vault, the terraforming network, a better map of the cluster... _you_ made this possible for us, Pathfinder."

Sara looked up at the display as she listened to her list of accomplishments on Eos laid out for her. It certainly improved her mood, if the soft tone of her face was anything to go by. The way the light hit the Pathfinder's face, Suvi could make out all the small details that her unkempt hair tried to hide. Every scar illuminated, every detail of her unusual tattoo was shown for Suvi to study. She didn't even realize how long she was staring for until Sara finally turned away from the map.

"You really know how to make a girl feel special." A rush of warm flooded Suvi's cheeks as Sara shot a charming smile her way. Of course, she was grinning like an absolute idiot because of her.

"Anything I can do to help our Pathfinder."

"Got a way to beat the kett yet?"

"It's a work in progress." Sara giggled again as she moved her focus back to the terminal. Suvi took a cautionary glance before she stared a bit longer at her.

She studied the unique ruggedness of the Pathfinder's face while she was looking away. From where she was standing, Suvi could see how the scars ran over her cheek, across her nose, and reached up underneath her bangs. She wondered what happened to give her such a harsh scar crossing around in all directions. Even more her curiosity, or perhaps just a personal interest, studied Sara's focused emerald eyes that were untouched gems surrounded by the the complicated, intricate scars on her face. All of it only drew Suvi's focus in deeper.

The lights shifted from blue to a glaring orange, breaking Suvi's focus before Ryder even raised her head. She frantically looked around the room, only to find the change in lighting came from Sara. The display showed the new mappings of the Scourge set before them. Suvi looked at Sara one last time to make sure she hadn't been caught. Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice.

"There's this new mass we didn't know about," Suvi said, quickly occupying the silence and her own attention on something else. A red box appeared around the tendrils Suvi pointed out. They cut and reached across Pytheas in ways previous observers never noticed. "Prodromos has managed to pick up more readings with the planet's rotation in the system. They think that these nerves are what's causing the same readings across Eos."

Sara tilted her head, "Nerves?"

Suvi blinked at her, then blushed when her personal term had been pointed out. "Oh, sorry. It...they all look like—,"

"A nervous cluster," Sara said, finishing her thought. She nodded gently, as if she had read the science officer's mind. "I can see it. I guess I've just never looked at with that perspective before."

There was some relief there, and a twinge of joy that Ryder saw it in a similar light. "I've spent so long studying the old scans that I guess I've just...noticed patterns." Or rather she saw them everywhere. "All that dark energy twisting and turning on itself...it's..."

"Beautiful." Suvi looked at the Pathfinder as the heat rushed to her cheeks. Sara's eyes were stuck on the Scourge, filled with equal parts wonder and reservation. Of course she didn't mean to use that word on Suvi. "Dangerous. Chaotic. Alien," she continued. "I guess it just depends on how we observe such a darkly beautiful phenomenon."

"'Darkly beautiful...'" she repeated in a gentle whisper, a smile tugging softly at the corners of her mouth. "I like that."

"The Scourge is a menace, and a threat, but who knows what's hidden inside of it? Who created it, how, and why? Every expression tells a story."

"The Scourge does leave quite the impression." Suvi was delighted that someone else could see such a unique cosmic construct in so many different ways. So many people would never ask those questions about it. The Scourge was just some big mess they had to live with. More than the Scourge, Suvi started to wonder what story Sara's expressions told about her. Strength, determination, bravery, compassion. It was difficult finding just the right word to describe the Pathfinder.

"Everything in Heleus seems to do that," Suvi said. "It's all so...new, so alien. Not just the Scourge or the Remnant, but...all of it really. A constant reminder of...just how big the universe really is."

"Do you ever think of what the plan was for all of it?"

The Pathfinder was staring right at her when she asked. Suvi's mind came crashing to a stop all at once. "All of what?" She hardly registered that she spoke out loud before Sara laughed.

"The universe." Sara turned around and leaned back gently next to the APEX terminal. "Come on, you're really smart. You haven't wondered about the nature of creation before?"

The compliment made Suvi blush. More importantly, the question continued stalling her brain. "You...think there was a plan?"

The Pathfinder shrugged, "I don't know. Existence seems too...complicated to just be an accident, you know? Think about the countless lives that are scattered throughout the universe, and consider that each individual being is a complex, sentient creation that's totally one-of-a-kind. Twins don't even have fully identical DNA, and that's about as close as you can even get with our species. I just can't buy that our existence is just by happenstance."

Suvi was at a loss for words. There were so many thing she felt like she wanted to say, but all of it was loud, frantic noise in her head. "I...wow." The Pathfinder turned her way with a curious look, and that stupid cute smile of hers. "I'm sorry, it's just I...I don't find many people who...believe in a higher power. I-I've had to justify my own beliefs so much that I just expect ridicule and judgment."

Sara's smile caused her eyes to light up with mischief. "A woman of science and faith? You're just a little rebel, aren't you?"

Suvi never dared to classify herself as such, even if belief and facts often clashed in the scientific community. "I can believe in something greater than myself while also searching to understand the fundamental truth of creation. I'm a scientist because science brings me closer to something greater than myself. To me, God is an inventor—an artist. Not someone sitting in the clouds, wondering if I brushed my teeth before bed."

"Wow." Suvi looked at the Pathfinder, whose smile continued to make her stomach flip over. "You definitely have some interesting thoughts on the interplay of science and faith. I'd really like to pick your brain on this subject some more. Maybe...drinks on the Nexus?"

Her thoughts came crashing down all at once. Again.

 _Say yes you idiot!_

"Oh...I uh...I'd like that."

"Looking forward to it." Sara gave one last smile before she turned around and left the room.

Suvi pressed her lips together to try and force down the smile that forced its way onto her face. She tried to silence the part of her brain that was throwing a party for scoring a date with the Pathfinder. Despite herself, Suvi eventually lost herself down a trail of whimsical 'what-if' scenarios. Having a mind that searched for logic and facts always conflicted with her romantic heart.

 _It's just a date_. A date with the dashing, flirtatious, one-of-a-kind Pathfinder. _Okay, don't think of it as a date then._

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 **Hey! If you're reading this, then thanks for sticking around. Hopefully you enjoyed my uh...attempt. There will be more in the future, because I can't explain how much I love the Sara x Suvi ship, and Andromeda in general. If you liked my story, or constructive criticisms to offer, then feel free to leave a review! It helps to fuel my writing addiction.**


	2. Chapter 2: Responsibilities

"I am _so_ glad we're wearing these suits," Liam said.

Sara glared at him behind her visor. The weird sludge that dropped onto her arm solidified, adding some weight, and a lot of pressure to her firing arm. Thankfully, she had a trusty Sidewinder in her other hand to cope until she returned to the Tempest. According to Jaal, the unusual nectar applies crushing force to whatever it covers. Without her armor, the stuff would have likely broke every bone in Sara's hand and arm. Still hurt like a bitch either way.

"I'm going to hit you with this," she threatened. Lexi wouldn't let Sara try to use biotics on it until she had a chance to study it. There was a chance that trying to break it with brute force would have damaged Sara's arm even worse. "Let's hurry up and check out this distress call." She was already getting more than she bargained for by not heading straight back with the angara science team they had rescued. No, instead they had to detect an emergency distress signal that they had to investigate at the last minute. And on the way, Sara nearly had the good fortune of losing her arm to an overgrown flower with a drooling problem.

"Oh come on, I'm starting to like this place. Lots of wildlife and plants that want to kill us. Seems like a good place to set up a vacation home."

"Sure, some people like to live in warm weather and around sunny beaches. Why not jungles and monsters instead?"

"Many angara consider living on Havarl to be better than living on Aya," Jaal chimed in. Sara was still trying to figure out if he was getting accustomed to sarcasm or if he was being genuine still. The angara were a new people with a completely alien set of rules. Back home, nearly every first contact encounter ended poorly.

"Riveting. Is there one that eats a fully grown Liam?"

"Several."

The idea brought a smile to Sara's face. Not that she would ever truly want any real harm to come to Liam. Sara just felt he deserved to experience the wonders and delights of Havarl just as much as she was. If it wasn't for Cora and Peebee arguing with each other on who got to go see a new world, and/or Remnant tech, Liam probably never would have volunteered, or got the assignment so quickly. Sara was glad to accept the offer so she didn't have to endure the other women's bickering. Verbal jabbing back and forth with Liam was proving to be a lot more fun anyway, present occupational hazards aside.

Jaal seemed to be slowly coming around to trusting the crew. Liam in particular was friendlier than most with their new angara squad mate. So far it seemed like Sara made at least one right choice with her team. Jaal was still hesitant to trust them fully, but he seemed to like Liam for the most part. Sara felt like she was still being studied every time he caught him staring. In all fairness, Jaal was just as big a curiousity, and by a lot more people than just the Pathfinder. Trust was a slow, and long road for both sides.

"So, Jaal," Liam started, "who do you like most on the team?"

"Liam—,"

"Just a conversation starter!" Sara rolled her eyes behind her helmet as they pushed forward through the jungle. Kotsa lacked in subtlety, but made up for it with genuinely good intentions. "Jaal?"

"The crew has been very kind to me. Given the limited time we've spent together, I don't think I have a favorite yet. Though asari are...unusually attractive."

Sara couldn't help but smile while Liam laughed. There was something comforting to know that the naturally bewitching nature of the asari carried over to Andromeda. "That's part of their charm," Sara chimed.

"But both Lexi and Peebee are so very different from each other. Their...charms are entirely different."

"Physical charms," the Pathfinder stated.

"Oh."

"They were kind of the top dogs back home. The asari were the most developed and advanced race."

Jaal hummed thoughtfully. "And they did not...subjugate any other race?"

"Their first contact was with the salarians, and from there they actually started a joint galactic community founded on the principle on peace," Sara explained.

"And then there was the...volus?" They both nodded. Jaal had quickly taken an interest in learning all he could about the Initiative species firsthand. He tore through countless texts, namely about the history of the Citadel Council, and the species that joined it. Given what the angara went through with the kett, their prying intrigue was only natural. "I have not seen any of their kind in Heleus yet."

"With any luck, they should be coming in later on another Ark," Liam said. "Along with a bunch of other races."

 _'With any luck.'_

That was a laugh. Luck was in particularly short supply in Andromeda. The only bit of good fortune Sara could find was in a bunch of handsome skeptics who were barely better off than the Initiative was. The last Ark set for launch was bringing a number of environmental-sensitive species that were probably going to be more of a burden if they showed up any time soon. Even with Prodromos and the unsure alliance with the angara, Heleus was hardly any safer than when the Hyperion arrived. And Sara could sense that the number of threats wasn't about to drop off any time soon.

Gunfire came from the distance, and pulled Sara out of her thoughts. "SAM?"

" _The distress signal is coming straight ahead."_

Of course. "Time to _hustle_!" Liam scoffed with distaste at Sara's pun as she took charge.

Jaal quickly came up to match Sara's pace, pushing and ducking through the planet's overgrown flora towards the gunfire that grew louder. The Pathfinder stopped in her tracks when they came onto the sight of angara shooting at turians backed into a corner.

"Jaal, what the hell—,"

"They are Roekaar! Fanatics who hate all aliens! They will kill all of you, given the chance."

Now their allies were trying to kill them too. Of course. "Jaal, I have to defend my people!"

Jaal raised his rifle and squeezed the trigger. One of the Roekaar raiders dropped to the ground—dead. "I am with you, Ryder."

That was one less thing to worry about. "Liam, move in on the right. Jaal, flank them!"

"Wait, what are you going to—," Sara's response came as her body started to surge and glow from her biotics. "Oh no, no no no—," And then she was gone.

The hardened substance around her arm proved to be a great weapon in use with the momentum from her Biotic Charge, as one unfortunate raider learned as she smashed the weight into his midsection. He was thrown several feet into the air, which drew a lot of Roekaar heads to the Pathfinder, and away from the turians. Sara turned and squeezed off two rounds into as many raiders from her pistol. The first Roekaar landed behind her, and drew the Pathfinder's attention to the reinforcements that tried to rush the turian survivors.

Sara holstered her Sidewinder and snapped her good arm up, raising her Backlash to ricochet the Roekaar's shots back at them, while the turians to her back regrouped and reloaded. Jaal and Liam were quick to play havoc on the Roekaar while their focus was on Sara, but even so her shield weakened rapidly under concentrated fire.

The turians were quick to regroup as they shored up around the Pathfinder and returned fire. Sara found a window to drop her shield and blinked toward the nearest available cover—coming through in a full dive behind a makeshift blast wall. She turned out from cover and fired a few shots into the Roekaar's waning numbers, before taking the charge to them again. Literally.

The next victim of Sara's hammer turned into the charge, and was struck in the chest with such force that the raider was thrown off his feet and spun head over heel like a top. He hit the ground rather awkwardly and was rolled to the side. Sara looked up as three more raiders right in front of her took aim. She reacted swiftly, moving at impossible speeds, ducking and shifting below and out of the way of their line of fire while advancing on them. The firing line lost their footing when they realized where their target had moved to—practically jumping back from her in fear. Sara twisted around as one raider tried to take a pop-shot at her, jumped in the air with her good arm raised and charged with concentrated biotic energy that she drove straight onto the ground. The impact of her Nova sent the three Roekaar flying back through the air with tremendous force. One smacked into a tree and dropped dead instantly, another bounced off of a large boulder, and the last was thrown back somewhere into the forest.

The stragglers were taken out with the help of the reinforced turians. Roekaar or not, turians knew how to fight. Sara took a moment to regroup with her own squad first. Liam moved to meet her, but Jaal stood solemnly among the his people's bodies across the battlefield. They both noticed his distress.

"This isn't a good start," Sara sighed.

"Jaal wants to give us a chance. These Roekaar guys obviously don't." He sharply elbowed the Pathfinder's shoulder. "Hey, Jaal shot first."

She tried not to laugh at the humorous tone in Liam's voice, or the ancient joke he referenced. She was more worried for Jaal. "Go introduce us to the survivors and find out who they are. I'm going to go check on Jaal." Liam nodded and headed off without question. Sara had to wonder what she could say to their first angara ally to ease any of this pain. She knew how close the angara were as a people. Despite Jaal's actions in battle, it couldn't have been an easy choice to pull the trigger on one of his own. "Jaal?"

"You do not need to apologize." Jaal turned around to face Ryder. She was still trying to figure out angara facial expressions, but there was an unmistakable twinge of pain in his eyes. "The Roekaar hate aliens. They hate you. I do not hate you. Not yet, anyway."

"I'm guessing there's no chance to talk peacefully to these people?"

Jaal shook his head, "Probably not."

Even the angara weren't infallible to internal disputes. Though they were still close as a people, and killing any number of them would reflect poorly on the Pathfinder. "I know this wasn't an easy thing for you to do, Jaal. If there's anything I can—,"

"Let me have a moment."

Sara nodded and Jaal turned back around. She recognized the body as the first raider that Jaal took down. Perhaps the first one of his kind he's ever killed.

She left Jaal to his people as she came up to the turian camp. People looked at her as she walked past, coming up to the person in charge Liam was talking to. "Pathfinder," the turian addressed her. "Avitus Rix. I'm in charge of this little operation."

"Sara Ryder." They shook hands after their introductions. "You chose an interesting place to setup shop."

"This is where we woke up from our stasis pods."

"Same story with everyone here, Ryder," Liam explained. "They don't remember waking up on the Ark, or even where it is. They all grouped up and formed a camp together to survive."

"If you woke up in stasis on another planet then that means you guys were jettisoned from the Natanus." Most likely the Scourge's handiwork again. Darkly beautiful shit-storm. "SAM, is there anything we can go off of?"

" _If Ark Natanus has jettisoned its stasis pods, it is likely there would be more across the cluster. If we find them, I may be able to calculate the trajectory from which they were launched."_

"Pathfinder, I can help too," Rix said. "I'm supposed to be the security officer for the Natanus, and I'm an ex-Spectre. I can help you track down the Ark."

"I'll take all the help I can get." She had to resist making a pun about Avitus taking the initiative on this. Turians and humor typically didn't mix. With the exception of Vetra, who was anything but a typical turian. "I don't suppose your Pathfinder is somewhere on the planet too?"

Avitus' shoulders dropped slightly. "No. I was hoping that maybe you would have..."

"For the time being, I'm the only Pathfinder the Initiative has, and the Hyperion is the only Ark to make it to the Nexus."

"Uh...this operation is real balls up, isn't it?"

"It's...a work in progress. We'll get your people sent to the Nexus. I'm sure you can start your hunt from there, and I'll be sure to send you any information I recover."

"Thank you, Pathfinder."

He walked away with a sense of apprehension still. Rix certainly seemed ambitious to get to work finding the Ark. Or perhaps just the turian Pathfinder.

"I was also talking to one of the engineers," Liam added. "There's more wreckage scattered around the area that they want marked for salvage."

Sara looked at him doubtfully. "Is it that important to pick up some scrap metal?"

"That's what I asked, but some of that scrap might have information about, say, the Initiative, or the Ark, or—,"

Sara waved her good hand to silence Liam. The fact that she had only one good hand was reason enough for not wanting to traverse that awful jungle anymore than she had to. They already planned to move onto Voeld after the distress signal anyway.

"Cora and Peebee really wanted to see the planet...right?"

Liam raised a curious eyebrow, "Yeah...?"

Sara nodded as her decision was made. "I'm sure they could find a third person to form an away team when we get back." Liam laughed and clapped the Pathfinder on the shoulder. It seemed like busy work anyway.

* * *

"Fascinating," Suvi whispered as she studied the scans of the substance still around the Pathfinder's limb. "It's almost like it's tried to fuse to your arm. The shielding in your suit managed to stop most of it though."

"If it wasn't for that, I think this stuff would have ripped your arm off," Lexi stated.

"No, it definitely would have," Jaal chimed.

Sara sat impatiently with her right arm under a scanner, still armored due to the hardened substance that threatened to crush her arm. The rest of her was still covered in the first layer of under-armor. "Can we focus on how we're going to get this stuff off my arm please?"

"Oh, we're going to have to cut your arm off." The room fell silent as all eyes turned on Dr. T'Perro, who was focused on a different screen. She even looked directly at Sara with a serious face, and looked back at the monitor without another word.

"Lexi!"

"I'm joking!" The medical officer smiled as she turned back to the redhead. "We'll weaken the entire structure over certain areas using lasers, and then—,"

"Will I get to keep my arm?"

"Of course you will, Sara. Don't be so dramatic." Suvi giggled, and even Jaal cracked a smile at the face Sara made. Somewhere between frustrated and disbelief. "Though from the looks of things, your arm is going to need time to reset and heal. Your lucky your bones held together, for the most part."

"Any longer getting back, and there may have been permanent damage to your nerves and blood vessels," Suvi stated. Despite the grim message, Sara noted the less than dire tone the science officer took when explaining how fortunate the Pathfinder was. "This substance is truly astounding. It's molecular structure shifts so quickly, but hardens when given a shape to form around. How does it know when to form though...?"

Sara and Jaal exchanged silent glances while Suvi lost herself in the scientific discovery that threatened to maim the Pathfinder. "You look like you're going to be busy," the angara sniper finally said. "I will...leave you your recovery."

Sara all but confirmed that Jaal had a sense of humor somewhere behind all the hesitation and caution as he left the med bay. She still worried about what the Roekaar meant for their already unsteady partnership. Jaal told Sara in one of their earlier conversations that the angara have more trouble hiding their feelings than showing them. After escorting the turian survivors from their camp, Jaal was silent, but not resentful. If he was still upset, he certainly hid it better than what Sara was expected to believe. It didn't help that in the Milky Way a friendly smile was the prelude to a knife in the back as often as it was genuine. Open trust wasn't something Sara was too familiar with.

Her doctor and science officer took the better part of ten minutes getting a machine ready to laser the crystalline material around her arm in order to quake it apart. Suvi had evidently come up with the idea from her studies in the advancement of geological research. The process of the coordinated and precise lasers took another forty minutes before it started breaking apart. Lexi made sure to inject Sara's arm with some kind of painkiller, and some other formula to help accelerate the rejuvenation of her muscles and nerves being crushed. Every fiber of being in her forearm screamed to life once the substance fractured and weakened, allowing for blood to circulate back in her limb.

The rest of it was one pain-filled, dramatic whirlwind that Sara barely stayed focused for. They monitored her arm for a few minutes before finally removing the broken armor. One big, dark bruise covered Sara's forearm, reaching all the way up to each of her fingertips. Every inch of it hurt, and seeing it for herself did not do much for Sara's personal comfort. Her arm was mostly numb, except for the flares of pain that tingled agonizingly through her muscles.

More minutes passed, and eventually the pain became more bearable for Sara's sake. Lexi ran a few more scans and treatments with Suvi's assistance. Thankfully she managed to set the science aside long enough to make sure Sara didn't lose any fingers. She even started to regain some color in her arm that wasn't black, blue, or some dark shade of red. It was a long way from looking normal, but at least the sight of her arm didn't fill Sara with as much dread.

"Readings are looking good," Suvi said, after the second hour of Sara lying in confinement. "How are you feeling?"

"I'd love more painkillers."

"No," Lexi called out from across the med bay.

Sara rolled her eyes sarcastically while Suvi giggled at the doctor's timely response. "Then I'm as good as I can be, I guess." Her arm was still numb every inch of the way below her elbow, she couldn't move her fingers, and occasionally, a spike of pain while tear down her forearm to remind her that it's still healing. Painkillers would have been a leisure for her at this point anyway. "So are you also the ship's nurse now?" she asked teasingly. Nurse Suvi did have something of a ring to it.

"I offered to assist Lexi as needed, yes," she fired back with a playful smile. "You'd be in pretty deep water right now if Lexi came down with the flu." Sara smirked at the thought, and saw the medical officer turn her head slightly in their direction.

"Aiming for Lexi's job?"

"Only if absolutely necessary. It wouldn't hurt to have someone else onboard who knows how to save a Pathfinder's arm."

Sara restrained herself from making a sarcastic remark about how painful the entire experience was for her only moments earlier. She had a better idea come to mind anyway."Ooh, or you could make me a fake arm with a rocket launcher built in!"

"That sounds like Drack's forte, honestly."

"Don't give him ideas!"

They both tried not to snicker under Lexi's stern look. The warning was pointed undoubtedly at the troublemaking Ryder, who definitely would have tossed the idea Drack's way sooner or later.

Sara leaned back in bed and took another remorseful look at her arm. "Who knows, maybe another cybernetic upgrade on my right side would be kinda cool?" Curiosity flickered across Suvi's face as her eyes slipped away to examine the Pathfinder closely. She quickly yanked her turquoise eyes back immediately to meet the Sara's gaze. The irony was of course that Suvi was staring right at the artificial piece of Sara by being courteous. "Right here," she finally said, tapping the scars below her right eye.

Suvi looked alarmed, and remorseful at her own curiosity. "Oh..."

"Yeah, only so much facial reconstruction can do after you have a ton of rock fall on your face." Suvi's brow raised and her eyes widened at Sara. After a moment of racking her brain, the Pathfinder remembered that she never told the full story of her facial scars. "So...uh, I was in a cave, it collapsed on me, and—,"

" _Bridge to Pathfinder, the away team is about to return."_

Sara looked up to the source of Kallo's voice, "Are they all accounted for?"

" _Well...yes, but...two of the three are not happy."_

The three women in the med bay all looked at each other in silence. "Who wants to take bets?" Sara asked.

* * *

"Because if you would just _listen_ to me and follow orders then—,"

Peebee just laughed and shook her head, already halfway across the cargo bay as Cora and Drack cleared the boarding ramp. She turned around, walking backwards with her arms thrown out, "We're fine, and we're all in one piece! I don't even know what you're complaining about, Harper!"

Sara stepped onto the scene with her wounded arm in a sling, and nearly every other member of the crew being witness to the shouting match between the two harpies. Liam warned her sending them on a mission together was a mistake, but how did things get so heated from scavenging a bunch of wreckage from Ark Natanus?

"Hey! Settle down!" Both Cora and Peebee turned their angry stares to Sara, who was simply not in the mood to be their combined target. A simple mission. That's all it was supposed to be. "What the hell happened?" Then Sara noticed an vicious looking claw mark that tore into the Cora's armor. She wasn't bleeding all over the floor, but if the battle damage was any indication, that was probably dumb luck.

"Your Remnant 'expert' can't follow orders, and it nearly got us killed!"

"Drack was fine!" Peebee's excuse just caused Sara to close her eyes with impatience, and eventually, slowly, reopen them. "Drack was _with_ Cora! So _she_ was fine too!"

"You think splitting off from the team makes things fine? Just because there's a krogan in the squad?!" To his credit, Drack remained completely silent and indifferent as he just walked away from the fight. Sara had half a mind to do the same thing, if only she weren't the leader of the merry little band of misfits. "What you tried was reckless, and I was nearly mauled apart by a freaking challyrion! If you were there, watching my flank—,"

"So it's my fault you don't have situational awareness?"

"Enough! Both of you just...go to different corners of the ship!" Peebee scoffed, half amused, while Cora just glared. "Did I say, 'do it tomorrow?' I meant right now." Cora moved for the lift while Peebee stormed for the nearest door in the opposite direction.

Sara felt like she could scream now. Thankfully, nobody wanted to stick around for that as every witness returned to duty or found an exit to walk out of. Drack on the other hand dropped a pile of circuitry and hardware in the corner. If anyone was going to have a neutral point of view, it was the krogan.

"Do I even want to know?" she asked on approach.

"Peebee got distracted with some Remnant junk she picked up on her scanner, broke off from the team to investigate. Roekaar ambushed me and Cora, we managed to push them back, but all the commotion and fresh meat drew a pack of challyrion right too us. They were a little trickier, more places to hide, plus that camouflage ability is a real pain for people who can't sniff em out. Cora's fine though, thanks to her biotics." Drack actually smiled, "Then Peebee came running back with one of those big eiroch bastards. Though that was the easiest part of my day."

Sara sighed and rubbed the side of her head in stress at the childish situation. It was something that would need to be dealt with, sooner or later. She lightly kicked one of the pieces of salvage Drack dropped on the floor. "And these are?"

"Easy pickings. Stuff too valuable to just wait for salvage teams to pick up—not with all the Roekaar we were finding in the area. Your AI said there wasn't anything useful about the turian Ark."

Another dead end, another hope cut short. "Well, at least the Initiative might be able to get some use out of these...somehow."

"Salvage is salvage, doesn't matter if it's got any uses or not. It's all wires and metal that can be put to use." A crude way to put it, but he was right. Spare parts—spare anything really, were in short supply on the Nexus. And whatever was still out in the jungles would help too, once recovery crews arrived. "How's the arm?"

Sara looked down at her bruised limb, and then shrugged her good shoulder. "Doc says I'll be fine. Got a couple of check ups just to make sure everything is healing properly, but with SAM's implant my recovery is pretty much on auto-pilot."

"Accelerated healing?"

Another shrug, "For a human. I'm a few pegs down from krogan resilience...unless you count my biotics."

"I don't." She scrunched her nose and shot the near-fossil a sour look. She got him to crack a smile though. "You want my advice on how to deal with those two hotheads?"

"I was going to ignore the dispute and learn from this mistake."

Drack laughed his low, amused, and always a little dark, laugh. "Smart kid." She was glad someone thought so.

She jabbed the krogan in the arm, "If you feel the need to put my biotics to the test, you're more than welcome to, old man."

He barked out a hearty laugh, "Don't push your luck, kid."

The voice of reason in her head agreed with that much. "Well, give my arm time to heal first. Then we'll see where my luck is at."

* * *

A bit of a mixed bag, as of an hour and a half after departing Havarl. Evfra wanted to get in touch with news about the Moshae's capture. Time to be serious. At least Jaal was with her to talk to the Resistance leader.

" _Ryder."_

Exciting as always. "Evfra. Jaal said you obtained some new information about the Moshae's whereabouts?"

" _Yes. And I have been informed of your activities on Havarl. You have my thanks for saving the science team, but do not think that excuses what happened with—,"_

"Evfra," Jaal snapped. "We agreed to talk about that after rescuing the Moshae." He relented, but he still was not happy with Ryder. If Sara were a betting girl, she would have to guess it had something to do with the dead Roekaar—the angara she killed. At least Jaal managed to shelve that argument before it started for the time being.

" _We've managed to trace the Moshae's whereabouts to a special kett facility on Voeld. These facilities are protected by a dynamic shield tech we haven't been able to crack. We're close, but its ability to adapt outstrips our current processors."_

Sara immediately thought of SAM—who had thought the confirmation she needed directly to her. He could definitely make the difference. "Evfra, I can help. Respectfully, you need me on this one."

" _Respectfully,"_ he spat out at her, _"the angara don't need anything from you. We take care of our own."_

"With the processing power of my AI, I can guarantee the shield breach."

Evfra's stare widened at the new information given to him. _"An AI...? Of course. That makes sense."_

"He's physically connected to me," Sara explained. "So I need to—well, I want to go."

The leader of the Resistance stayed silent, focused solely on the Pathfinder. _"It was risky to be honest about your AI—and honesty makes you different from the kett."_ Sara really hoped there was a lot more than just honesty that separated her from the kett. But Evfra admitting that much about her meant that he was at least more trusting than the Roekaar. _"You're welcome on the mission. A team will meet you at our base on Voeld. They'll take you to the kett facility."_

One less obstacle in the way at least. Maybe peace wasn't going to be as impossible as Sara once thought. "Thank you."

Evfra nodded, _"Stay strong and clear. Both of you."_

Sara let out a weary sigh after the transmission was cut, and she could drop the diplomatic walls for the time being. "Well," Jaal hummed, "looks like you've managed to gain Evfra's trust. No easy feat...for an alien."

She cracked a smirk at the apparent humor in Jaal's voice. "I still don't think he likes me." Trust was not approval after all.

"That's...just his way," Jaal explained. An excuse she heard often in defense of her father. "You should be more worried about the Roekaar. I explained to Evfra what happened. He was not very pleased, but he would have done no less to defend our people."

She felt like Jaal was owed some form of thanks, but how do you thank someone for killing their own kind? Jaal chose to take Sara's side, and without question. "I'm grateful to have you on my crew." She hoped he would understand. He nodded in some form of acknowledgment. "Tell me about the Roekaar. Maybe if I understood them I could—,"

"It will not help," Jaal said. "The Roekaar's leader, Akksul, he has an unwavering hatred of aliens. And he is impossibly stubborn."

"Sounds like you speak from experience."

Jaal looked away for a moment as if he was caught off guard. Maybe there were some matters too personal for angara after all. "We...studied together under the Moshae, Akksul and I." Jaal turned back slightly, but looked out of the window into space with a bemused huff. "But, unlike me, he was a good student. The best, actually." He didn't admit the last part proudly. Sara was still learning about the angara, but Jaal was nothing if not dutiful. Though she was no stranger to a guilty past.

"Does that mean he knows a lot about the Remnant as well?"

Jaal sighed with a look of guilt in his eyes. Sara felt guilty for asking. "He did. It's a...long story."

She nodded at him, "I'll listen anyway."

He managed to give a grateful smile as he turned toward her. "Akksul...was captured by the kett. He spent a year in a forced labor camp before he managed to escape."

And the kett's lack of mercy went without saying. A firsthand experience of their cruelty for an entire year would be unimaginable. "That's why he hates aliens."

"Yes. He...suffered greatly. When Akksul returned, he no longer cared about the Remnant. Or anything. Except destroying the kett."

"And he didn't join up with the Resistance?"

Jaal shook his head, "Akksul's not the type to follow orders...and I think he was bitter we weren't able to rescue him."

An angry, wounded voice always made for a good rallying call. "So he formed the Roekaar..."

"We didn't give them much thought. But once your people arrived, his cause has grown." Of course their arrival only complicated things that were already complicated. Races of the Milky Way would be famous for their delicate touch across the cosmos.

"Is there any possible way I can reason with him? I managed to get Evfra's trust."

Jaal smiled again, and a bit more this time. "I admire your courage. But Akksul's dangerous...and he lacks Evfra's pragmatism." His smile dropped as he sent a more grave message across. "He'll make you want to kill him."

"We came here to be settlers, not conquerors," Sara said. "I have to try to reason with him—or any of them."

Jaal hummed at her with a smile on his face. "Hm...I suppose if you are to live in Heleus, you'll have to deal with the Roekaar sooner or later. If I hear anything, I will let you know."

It was more to add to her plate, but the Initiative arrived in the name of peace. After the kett, and the Exiles taking over Kadara Port, Sara couldn't exactly blame the Roekaar for not trusting strangers. Even the trust Jaal showed was nearly unbelievable, not to mention what happened with Evfra. She was just going to have to keep showing the best side of the Initiative, to show that they were worth the trust and faith Sara claimed they were. They only brought a small piece of their own mess of a civilization with them to Andromeda, but Sara worried what a deeper look into their honest history would tell the angara. Sara's own personal history in the Milky Way was questionable enough, now she had to represent the best of them. If she didn't know Alec as well as she did, she'd think her father finally developed a sense of humor. Albeit a cruel one.

* * *

Sara returned to the med bay later, where she thankfully only found Lexi in attendance. "Busy?" she asked, even as Lexi set her datapad down when she saw the Pathfinder enter.

"Not at all. Come in." Sara pulled a chair up to Lexi's desk and flopped back in the seat. "How's your arm feeling?"

"SAM said it's healing properly thanks to you. It'll be all fixed up before we get to Voeld."

Lexi didn't need to acknowledge the thanks, but with everything her own job entailed, the Pathfinder learned that a simple 'thank you' for doing your job could make a difference. She already asked so much of Lexi.

"How are you feeling?"

She rolled her eyes with a prolonged sigh. "I'm...hanging in there. Sleeping like shit still."

"Are you still having nightmares?"

"Restless," she said, lying through her teeth. She didn't want to admit how Habitat 7 still stuck with her—still haunted her. Lexi was too smart to buy her story though. She let Sara get away with it for the time being. "This stuff with the Moshae is...high stakes."

Lexi nodded. "Perhaps a bit familiar as well?"

She wouldn't try to lie through that one. "Yeah. I...I really miss her. And I really wish I...wasn't alone." Lexi frowned before she opened her mouth to correct Sara. "I wish I didn't feel alone. Scott's in a coma, Alec's dead, and I'm without either of my mothers." Her best friend and mentor, Matriarch Aneria, stayed behind in the Milky Way while the remainder of the Ryder clan ventured off to another galaxy. And her birth mother never got the choice to stay behind or come to Andromeda, even if Ellen's choice would have been obvious.

"I don't think even Matriarch Aneria would have been ready to lead the charge into the unknown like this."

"She would have handled all of this better than me."

Lexi smirked, "Could she have made peace with the kett?"

She actually gave the thought some consideration. Then she remembered the Archon. Aneria would have driven a blade straight through that bastard's skull. "Okay, maybe not."

"She probably would be working closely with the angara to earn their trust. Maybe even helping them rescue an important cultural figure." Sara slouched in her chair, feeling guilty again. As a Pathfinder, she was accomplishing a lot. Too much, her dad would probably say. Everything was just sort of a desperate combination balancing-juggling act that she tried to keep from falling apart all around her. "Remember why she let you go, Sara."

"I remember every day," she admitted quietly. This venture was for her and her family. Aneria was too rooted back home and had no wish or desire to start all over again. It was the second time she had to say goodbye to her mother, and it was no less painful than the first. "I just...it would be kind of nice to hear her voice. I've been asked to cope with a lot lately."

"Believe me, I know. Which is why I'm going to revisit the topic of Sara Ryder giving herself a break." That topic was only good for another eye-roll. Sara couldn't just sit still, especially given their pressing circumstances. "We still have a few hours before reaching Voeld. I would recommend being rested and ready for an important rescue operation."

"You're treading very closely to 'mom' territory." Lexi glared at her smirking patient. The good doctor hated that word, specifically when applied to her. She knew how bad she could fuss over the crew, but given their default setting was typically reckless, it was probably warranted. "I can't sit still. Not with...everything."

"That's kind of my point, Sara. You've barely been given time to process, let alone grieve since Habitat 7. And as a Pathfinder, you've already accomplished so much. More than most could in these circumstances. But you need to sort out Sara Ryder too. You can't just keep pushing her off."

Being Sara Ryder was always a challenge. Growing up, she was something of a wild-child, who just so happened to be a gifted biotic with explosive migraines. Sometimes they were literally explosive. It didn't make for a comfortable, or stable, family situation either. Her mother always did what she could between implants and what little humanity had on biotic nature as a whole, which meant Sara spent a good chunk of her childhood in hospitals and laboratories. It wasn't until one fateful trip to the ER of the Ishima Care Hospital that Sara and her mother had the good fortune to meet the hospital's founder; Matriarch Aneria. The woman who became Sara's best friend and mentor.

"It's...there's too much to do before I try bringing up more things to deal with," Sara pitifully explained. There were too many fresh wounds to pick at, and even more old ones she didn't want to reopen. Not while half a galaxy cluster was trying to kill her. Lexi frowned pensively at her. "Look, I'm not trying to push it off. I'm just trying to stay focused on the present. Besides, all this baggage stuff is what you're for, right doc?"

"You're the one who has to sort things out for yourself," Lexi said, with some reluctance in her tone. She knew Sara's past could be overwhelming, and Sara knew how to pick and choose the fights with herself. Usually. "If I can make another suggestion for you, try to open up to some of the others on your crew. I'm sure you could find someone who's as good a listener as I am."

"Excuse you, I'm nothing if not a good listener."

Lexi rolled her eyes with a faint smile, "You know what I mean. People here are understanding. Some of them even have a lot in common with you. You don't have to share your life story with them, but I'm...somewhat concerned about you shutting yourself off from human contact." 'Somewhat' was an understatement—Lexi just didn't want to sound like a mom. Though the concern, as with many of them, was well founded. "You're not alone out here, Sara. I know you have a lot to work through, but you should know that you have people who will help you work through it."

And there was her friend again. Sara gave the best smile she could muster under her bashful, grateful feelings. "I know." She was particularly grateful that Lexi traded jobs with Harry. Even though her medical officer insisted it was Harry's idea, Sara had a feeling Lexi didn't argue against the idea too much. She was about the only living person that wasn't family that knew Sara back in the Milky Way. In fact, Lexi knew more about Sara's history than her own blood relatives did. It wasn't like Alec needed to know that his only daughter ran as a mercenary on Omega for a few years after they were all kicked out of the Alliance. They had more than enough reasons to argue during their rare family gatherings. "I'm really glad you're here, Lexi."

She gave a smile and reached out to put her hand on Sara's shoulder, "I'm glad to be here. Now please, try to unwind before your impossibly dangerous mission."

"You are the _worst_ motivator though." Lexi laughed after Sara shoved her arm. It wasn't like she couldn't keep her smile back. "There are a couple of things I _have_ to do. T's to cross, I's to dot."

"Just try to get some rest. Last thing you need is to fall asleep while rescuing the Moshae."

There was a thought. "I'll do my best." In truth, sleep was the last thing on Sara Ryder's mind.

* * *

 **Yay lazy little chapter that's here to introduce my Ryder to everyone, and also help crank out more filler so I can feel productive posting more content. Yay poster children for fanfiction too! All my custom gals end up being redheads-I don't know what the problem is. Maybe redheads are just the best?**

 **So yeah, lot of nothing so far, but next chapter will cover a dangerous and slightly hyped up rescue mission. And also potentially more clues into Sara's colorful (*cough, shady, cough*) background. And definitely more idle bonding and banter. Because I think this story is kind of my outlet for that.**

 **Anyway, reviews are most welcome, as is constructive criticism. Plus they feed my writing addiction. Thanks for reading this far! Let me know what you guys think so far. And also thank you again!**


	3. Chapter 3: Painfully Honest

"So, Ryder."

"Peebee?"

"How come you move like an asari? Does Cora take lessons from you, or you from her?"

Sara shot the teasing asari a sour, sideways glance. "I had a matriarch as a biotic tutor growing up."

Peebee turned in her seat to face the driver, giving her a baffled glance behind her visor. "How did you land that?"

"She owned the right hospital I happened to go to when I was a kid, and my biotics nearly broke my arms." Peebee couldn't help herself but to snicker at the idea of poor child Ryder being unable to control her power. It was a little more than a sour note to hit for Sara. "She took an interest, pointed out my condition, offered my family a hand with the trouble child."

"What condition?" Sara groaned at the persistent questioning, causing the interrogator to fold her arms petulantly. "Do humans have weird diseases?"

"We have the common cold."

"The common what?" Man, humans were weird. Ryder's was the only species to be susceptible to its 'common' ravages. Plus it was something not many other species were commonly aware of. "Come on, we can't both be snarky and mysterious girls with colorful jackets. And you're the leader of this operation so by default you have to go first."

"I could just use my rank to order _you_ to open up instead."

"You're not that cruel."

She was starting to wish that she was capable of such malice. Unfortunately, she couldn't justify an abuse of her power to avoid talking about her teacher. Sara would have to find some way to get back at Peebee later though.

"Do you know a lot about human biotics?"

"Um, I'm asari. We know everything about biotics."

"What's the average number of biotic nodules in a human body?"

Peebee stalled on the answer. "Uh..."

"Our averages are between sixty to eighty, with forty-something being the lowest, and the highest being a hundred and six. I have a hundred and three."

"Just short of the record, huh?"

"Humans have a tendency to be a little less than rational with new and/or different things that require invasive research," Sara explained. "My mom wanted me away from records and ambitious scientists with their desire to set themselves apart in the history books." Ellen Ryder had already done that for herself with biotic implants for humanity. She had a far better understanding of how far some people would go to explore biotic potential in humans. Sara had a better idea when she was older, but her mother could still tell her horror stories into her adult years. "All things considered, raising a gifted biotic human under the care of an asari matriarch probably wasn't the worst move."

"Yeah, I guess there are worse teachers in the galaxy." She saw Peebee shift in her seat, and felt a scrutinizing stare. "So, you probably do know a fair bit about asari stuff, huh?"

There it was. "I happen to know quite a bit about your people's culture."

Peebee hummed, and Ryder realized her response may have come off a bit sensitive. "So you never really had the full human experience growing up?"

Sara pulled her eyes off the snowy banks of Voeld to look at her passenger pensively behind her visor. "I'm curious as to what _you_ think the human experience is?"

"Grow up in some human colony full of hope, get a job doing something boring, something in the military, or something dumb and violent."

The Pathfinder groaned as she applied to all three job careers at one point or another. Even worse was the case that such a stereotype was so accurate to more than a fair number of humans back home. "I grew up on the Citadel, if that's what you're asking. Mom and dad grew up on Earth, but Scott and I grew up around almost everybody except humans."

"Have you never been to your home planet?" Both girls looked back—Sara only glancing since she was driving, at Jaal.

"No, we visited Earth plenty of times," Sara said carefully.

"I almost forgot you were back there, Jaal," Peebee laughed. Ryder was more than mindful of their silent passenger the entire time however.

Their relationship was fairly touchy since the destruction of the kett's exaltation facility, and they learned the truth about what the kett did to angaran prisoners. Even with their successful rescue of Moshae Sjefa, Jaal was less than happy when Ryder made the call to blow up the facility straight to hell, and sacrifice all the prisoners inside. It was a decision that the Moshae had backed, but Jaal still did his fair share of shouting at her when they returned to the Tempest. It wasn't until a call from Cora's away team that Jaal asked to join Ryder to stop the pirates that were poaching the yevara—a sacred animal to the angara. Peebee tagged along in hopes that Ryder would hit the Remnant towers that Cora's team had also marked on the map, which she did, and was playing Twenty Questions on their way to the vault. Regardless of any guilt over the prisoners in the exaltation facility, Sara's choice involving the yevara was made to preserve angaran culture, and an endangered species. She wasn't sure how Jaal was comparing that to blowing up the kett's little shop of horrors, but at least he thanked her for stopping Dr. Lekaraat's research from continuing any further. Asking about the home world was the first thing Jaal had said to her since then.

"You excited to see the inside of a Remnant vault?" Peebee asked, turning back to focus her questions on Jaal.

"Hm...I admit I am...anxious to see the inside of such a structure. My people have very limited knowledge of the Remnant. Moshae Sjefa is our leading expert on the matter, however."

"Well, you're about to see something she never has," Sara announced as she pulled the Nomad to a slow stop.

The ground gently shook, vibrating the whole vehicle as pillars rose up, breaking through the layers of ice. Jaal poked his head up between Peebee and Ryder, watching in awe as the Remnant constructs effortlessly revealed themselves before their eyes. It was Sara's second time watching a vault reveal itself, Peebee's too, but something told the Pathfinder that neither of them would tired of the show. Jaal seemed to be a pretty big fan too.

"I hope you can run fast," Sara said as she pressed the release on the Nomad's doors.

"Is it a race?" Jaal asked Peebee after they climbed out.

"You...could say that."

Ryder could feel the blistering winds cutting against the layers of her armor as they stepped out into the snow. Whether or not the vault could turn Voeld into a summer paradise or not, Sara could do without the endless blizzard. She wouldn't envy the poor bastards that would wake up from cryo to build a settlement on this ice ball. First she had to activate the vault before sending word to the Nexus.

"Incredible," Jaal marveled. "All this time...and we had no idea this was beneath our very feet."

"It's a _lot_ deeper than you think," Peebee teased, racing to catch up with the Pathfinder that moved toward the entrance. "You think this one will be any different?"

"I don't know enough about Remnant architecture, and how it varies from planet to planet," Ryder admitted. Peebee gave an excited shimmy as they descended the ramp, and into the heart of the Remnant vault.

* * *

As soon as she was able to, Moshae Sjefa had pulled herself out of bed with the intention of seeing all that she could of Heleus' new visitors. Needless to say, she was like a kid in a candy store—or Suvi when they hit a new planet. The only aliens the Moshae got to meet during her rescue were Ryder and Cora—both human females. The next was Lexi, which barring the blue skin and the head shape, was almost identical to the first two women. Suvi was the third human Moshae Sjefa had ever met, so the majesty of meeting her for the first time was a little watered down. It wasn't until she started met Kallo, Vetra, and even human males like Liam and Gil were suddenly so new. For Suvi, it was a true delight to see someone so enlightened and so brilliant fawning over what was the general norm back in the Milky Way. For the angara though, the only alien life they've ever known was the kett.

Although Moshae Sjefa was allowed to tour the ship, there wasn't a force in the universe that was going to keep Lexi from dotting on and following her patient. The treatments and medicine had run their course for a few hours before Lexi even entertained the idea of letting the Moshae walk around, but her recovery from the kett drugs in her system was rather astounding itself. Plus with Suvi assisting, there was an extra helping hand on deck in case something went wrong, who also happened to be fairly well versed in kett and angaran biology—what little they knew of either, that is. Not to mention that the science officer was an advocate for showing Moshae Sjefa all the Tempest and the rest of her crew. Despite Lexi's reluctance when she finally caved, Suvi couldn't have been happier with herself to let another curious mind out onto the ship.

"You do know they're going to start asking questions," Gil said as he suddenly appeared at Suvi's side with a datapad in hand. He handed it to her, giving Suvi's eyes something to look at besides Moshae Sjefa having some discussion with Drack while Lexi monitored from the sidelines. Suvi was sent on her own little fetch quest when the Moshae started asking questions about the ship that really only the pilot or engineer would know. Thankfully, the schematics Gil copied were all before he started with his modifications on the ship, and didn't give any sensitive information about the Tempest itself.

"Who's asking questions?"

"Liam is wondering how you managed to get the new patient out from Lexi's nose unsupervised."

Suvi just rolled her eyes. _Those_ questions. "I'd hardly call that unsupervised," she responded, nodding down to Lexi who was still less than a few feet away from the Moshae. Not to mention Cora and Vetra were also at the other side of the empty cargo bay. Suvi was more of a tour guide for Moshae Sjefa than she was Lexi's assistant for the time being. "Tell Liam to break fewer bones."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that. Does she know anything about how to...well, read our ship schematics?"

"I think she's just trying to understand. You wouldn't believe how many terms she's used that glitched the translator."

Gil sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "I'll put it on the list then."

Suvi felt a light pang of guilt when she accidentally put another problem on Gil's Fix-It List. "I'm sure it's just a software issue."

"With SAM running the processors? More likely he's overheating them." That much was true. SAM's translating skills made it possible for the crew to talk and understand Jaal and the other angara they've encountered almost instantly. If anything was being taxed, it more likely the hardware than it was SAM's brain.

"You could check with SAM and see what caused the errors. I wasn't able to pick up on anything particular with vocal tones or dialects that might have tripped the system."

"I could, but SAM will probably tell me to look at the receivers anyway." He nodded at her before making his way back to engineering. For someone so keen on making changes so frequently, Gil was a poor conversationalist with new people, and sometimes the ones he knew too.

Suvi took the lift down to the bottom floor in the cargo hold and slowly came up next to Lexi, remaining silent and observant while Moshae Sjefa discussed something of great interest with Drack. From the corner of her eye, she caught the glow of the doctor's omni-tool as she undoubtedly checked on her patient's vitals briefly for the umpteenth time, watching for any irregularities. Suvi said nothing in regards to Lexi's protective nature, since their knowledge of the angaran medical field was still relatively new. That, and she was a doctor. Suvi's presence in the med bay was more to fill in the gaps between the information Lexi had already familiarized herself with beforehand.

"She seems to be doing well," Suvi said, barely above a whisper.

"They've been talking for nearly fifteen minutes," Lexi replied, her tone rather short. "I can barely get a sentence out of him when he comes in for his checkups."

Suvi smiled at the fact that Lexi seemed more frustrated with Drack than with her patient. She had seen Lexi lecture and scold the likes of Liam and Sara when they try to pitch the, 'I'm good,' line to her. The fact she was even giving Moshae Sjefa her space was pretty surprising in itself. "Do you know what they're talking about?"

"They somehow got on the topic of krogan mating," she answered flatly. Suvi felt her throat close up as she tried to deny such a laughable idea. Of all the things for two new people of different species, and it undoubtedly shifts to a topic some would consider inappropriate. True curiosity knew no bounds she supposed. "Frankly, I'm afraid to ask who brought it up first." Even Suvi wasn't that curious. "Her recovery seems stable though. I still don't understand why the Resistance didn't have their doctors check on her. It would have made more sense for her to be treated by one of her own."

"You did good, and she's still here," Suvi offered politely. "Talking with Drack about the birds and the bees. That's got to count for something." Lexi visibly tried not to smile by pressing her lips together in a firm, creased line, but there was a small amount of relief that came over her face at the very least. "Though to be fair, she's been persistently asking if any of our other species are monogender."

"Goddess, and Liam couldn't be bothered to wear a shirt. Almost as terrible as Sara refusing to even _brush_ her hair before walking onto Aya..." Suvi turned her head fully to Lexi, who sounded like she was treading dangerously close to matron territory. "I'm just saying," she said, defensively, without even glancing in her direction. "There's a certain way to do this sort of diplomacy."

"Something you've studied?"

"I know enough to know you don't make first contact looking like you just rolled out of bed." The asari were utterly famous for their diplomacy, and their universal charm that went hand-in-hand. Though Ryder had her own...unique charm. "And now Drack is explaining...Goddess..."

"She seems like she's taking it in stride," Suvi pointed out. The Moshae definitely seemed more interested than terrified in whatever Drack had to say. And whatever he was telling her didn't require much, if any, animated movement. Certainly nothing about the conversation at hand seemed incredibly inappropriate, which was a bit of a change of Drack. From what Suvi gathered, the Moshae was of a veteran, respectable age, and Drack was clearly no spring chicken, no matter what species you are. Comparing notes on differing mating habits across galaxies was probably more engaging than it was vulgar or improper.

Drack barked out a sudden laugh, then softened to a chuckle while the Moshae reached out to touch his arm, joining in whatever amusement their conversation created with a lighter laugh of her own. Suvi was admittedly surprised, but also relieved to see that Lexi was rather impressed as well. It certainly took a higher caliber of people to make such a first impression with a krogan. They were understandably intimidating, but just as capable and intelligent as any other species. It was a delight that the Moshae could see deeper into a person's true nature. Drack was fearsome to be sure, but he wasn't a monster like so many would think at first sight.

"She certainly has a way with people," Lexi admitted. Suvi smiled in agreement.

Moshae Sjefa bowed her head lightly before departing from Drack's company to return to Lexi, "The krogan are dangerous people."

There was a pause.

"That was the takeaway?" Lexi asked.

"Oh, he explained that mating with krogan was the same as any other species. Only more violent, and with a lot more breaking things." Lexi sighed, while Suvi just smiled guiltlessly. In retrospect, they didn't know what else to expect from Drack, other than literally the most straightforward answer possible. "He discussed how he saw his people threaten your entire galaxy, after they saved it from a larger threat. And then he explained how Kallo and Vetra's people chemically neutered the entire krogan species with some kind of chemical poison. When I asked why he didn't hold resentment against them, he admitted that he's likely killed one of their relatives, and that neither of them are guilty of ruining the krogan. Then he asked me if I had any interesting stories regarding aliens." Another pause. There was the inappropriate topic of discussion. Moshae Sjefa then smiled at the both of them. "He was joking, of course. I told him that I hope he has the good fortune to kill several of the kett's relatives." Her smile widened, and perhaps even grew a bit darker, "He then told me he had a head start on that." Well, that much was true.

Something sudden rocked the Tempest a bit, but enough for Lexi to move and quickly support and right the Moshae's footing. Suvi stumbled a bit from the small quake, but it was nothing quite so dramatic. She flipped on her her omni-tool quickly, "Kallo, what was that?" There was some hesitation, which made Suvi worry. If the ship started taking off, she might flip to panic mode, but they stayed put and she remained calm. "Kallo?"

" _Suvi it's...you should look outside. It's...incredible!"_

Moshae Sjefa practically led they way out of the ship, and into the tempered colds of the planet. Suvi was late grabbing a coat—which Cora handed her on the second group out. Lexi followed her patient closely, forgetting, or disregarding the fact that the angara were immune to the cold—asari were not. Drack was a different story when he followed them, as Suvi, Cora, and Vetra came out behind him.

It hit Suvi a second later that the endless blizzard had stopped—and even the freezing temperature to be bearable when she stepped into the snow. Perhaps even without her heavy coat, but she wasn't sorry she had it. What Suvi saw in the horizon took her frozen breath away. The planet had all but stopped, the sky above as clear as could be, lit up brilliantly by waves of glowing green polar lights. The new auroras could be seen actually stretching across the darkened skies, painting themselves against the once storm blanketed horizon.

"Wow," Suvi gasped, taking in the awe inspiring sight.

"She brought the sky back," Moshae Sjefa murmured. Suvi looked at her, and found the Moshae grinning with stunned joy before the tears rolled down her cheeks. Such joy was truly the most brilliant sight yet. "Your Pathfinder...truly she is full of miracles."

That was certainly one way of putting it, but looking at the sky, Suvi was inclined to agree with such a bold statement. Either way, it was a truly romantic new sight to take in and admire. A beautiful, nightly glow against the black, endless sky above the angaran world.

* * *

Sara finally got the time to sleep after leaving Aya, gaining their only lead on Meridian on the planet's vault with Moshae Sjefa's help. Between saving the yevara, changing centuries of unyielding weather on one of the angara's most historic planets, saving Moshae Sjefa, and all the briefings, reports, and follow-ups in between, she barely had time to sit down. She skipped any further calls from Nexus leadership and opted to fall face-first into bed instead. It took a minute to get comfortable, and another two for Sara to wrestle her jacket off without lifting her head up. She fell asleep before her worries could seep too far into her brain, free from the worries of the Initiative and the problems of Andromeda.

" _Sara?"_

Ryder croaked awkwardly before cracking her fake eye open. Lexi offered an apologetic smile when she met the Pathfinder's gaze. She sat up with more of a groan. "I _just_ laid down..."

"We've been at the Nexus for two hours."

Sara sighed and dragged her hand through her hair, catching more than a few tangles through her fingers. "Shit..."

"Nobody is looking for you yet," Lexi promised. Her only concern was when Sara overslept—or didn't get enough sleep. Lexi definitely wasn't going to disturb her because Tann was getting impatient just stewing in his office. "Still not sleeping well?"

"I feel like I'm not sleeping at all." At least this time she didn't have any nightmares that she could remember.

"You've been through quite a bit. Physically and emotionally."

"Jaal hasn't yelled at me since the rescue mission," she muttered sarcastically. That was hardly the 'emotionally' part that Lexi meant though.

"But he's spoken to you since then." Sara huffed bitterly, glaring at her friend for shooting down her early morning cynicism. Even worse, she entertained it before striking down her need for bitterness. "It's obviously still weighing on you."

"Blowing up a few thousand lost souls? Should it not bother me?" Lexi sighed, shooting an impatient look down at Ryder. She groaned again, realizing now she was being difficult for the sake of being difficult. Not only that, but she kind of proved Lexi's point without meaning to. "It's not...I just don't know where he and I are at. I'm...honestly kind of surprised he stayed."

"He seems a bit more adventurous than he lets on." Maybe he was. Maybe he was waiting for the right time to kill her in her sleep. No, Jaal was too honest to lie to Sara's face about that. She hoped. "He's grieving. That takes time to process through." Sara picked up on the double meaning aimed at her. She did not have the patience to be emotionally honest. It was bad enough dealing with the first thoughts that came to mind when she was at the Nexus without being reminded of the rest of her deceased family.

"Any change in Scott?" she asked, finally standing up out of bed while grabbing her leather jacket. Lexi hesitated to answer, "So no?"

"Go see him anyway," Lexi insisted. "Talk to Harry yourself to get some peace of mind. Talk to Scott."

"What good does it do to talk to someone who's..." Sara stopped her negativity there, choking off the word before she dared speak it. Though her mind had no problem shouting _braindead_ to her in private. She stopped her thoughts there, nodding softly, relenting fully to the doctor's orders. "I'll go visit him. Just let me get Nexus crap out of the way first." On the off chance her mood could improve, she didn't want Tann or Addison spoiling it.

"Come talk to me when you can." Sara nodded, but said nothing. There was no escaping the call of Dr. T'Perro anyway. Lexi let herself out.

Sara didn't allow much time to herself, throwing on her jacket, and throwing her hair around until it was deemed suitable...enough. With a final moment's hesitation, she left her quarters, departing to see how the Nexus had changed since her last visit.

Surprisingly enough, she was greeted with praise from Addison for the successful relationships established with the angara, not to mention the continued success of Prodromos, the science station on Havarl, and the new outpost on Voeld. In keeping with Prodromos' scientific foundation, the Initiative sent a new science team of ecologists, botanists, biologists—and all kinds of other nerds to Havarl to help learn about the changes to the planet's ecosystem with the angara. Voeld was a bit of a different story though, as the angara there were still fighting against the kett that still occupied their planet. Setting up a military outpost was twofold, as it also alleviated the tensions from the Nexus personnel who had family still in cryo for such positions. Ryder's successes seemed to chip away at Addison's bitchy pessimism to the point where she almost seemed respectable towards the Pathfinder.

Tann of course was a slightly altered tune, though it was worth it to hear him try to negotiate with the angaran ambassador by exchanging their 'knowledge and wisdom,' for viable resources. He was happy to have allies in the system, of course, but any praise was undercut with the immediate follow-up of more demands and needs and crises that only she could fix. Then it was what she learned of Meridian, and her next lead being some angaran prisoner taken in by Sloane Kelly, and how she shouldn't underestimate Sloane's ruthlessness after Tann gave her a history lesson about the butchter's past. When all was said and done, Sara had the good timing to ditch Tann right as he was trying to ask her questions about the angara. Too bad she didn't feel like helping him out with negotiations, though she did insist that he keep working on the 'knowledge and wisdom' angle.

She hesitated to visit her brother, but knew that Lexi would find out sooner or later from Harry that she hadn't visited. Plus there was a rather large, yet frightened, part of her that wanted to see Scott. If anything should happen to him while she's out saving the galaxy...

At first, the visit seemed too good to be true. Harry was clearly anxious, which didn't inspire confidence, until he explained what SAM learned. Scott had an SAM implant like hers—like Alec's—which meant that SAM was able to establish a sort of remote connection it, which would allow Sara to actually communicate with Scott. They always joked about having 'twin telepathy' as kids, since Sara was a biotic and kids loved their folktales. It was a unique and odd process that Harry admittedly knew nothing about. The reigns where in SAM's figurative hands. Or at least, that's what Sara thought.

It was an exciting prospect at first. What could be better than talking to Scott again? She thought of the crew, of the ship, and how insane it was that she was made Pathfinder—all things Sara would have loved to share with her little brother. It wasn't until SAM established their link that Sara realized Scott wasn't at all caught up on current events. And of course the first thing he asks about is dad.

What else could she do but tell the truth? Scott wasn't dumb. His coma wouldn't last forever, she hoped, and what would he say if she had lied to him? About dad, about the Initiative? He would wake up to find out that their dad was dead, and by the way your sister couldn't save the Initiative either.

She told him the truth about everything. Then she went back to the Tempest to find Lexi when things went wrong.

* * *

The ship seemed empty, which was fortunate considering she wasn't in the mood for idle chatter with anybody else. Beelining for the med bay, Sara didn't hesitate to go through the doors—and she instantly regretted it a second later. Lexi wasn't there, but Suvi was to turn her head at the sound of someone stepping through the entrance. Sara looked away too late, registering the startled look on the science officer's face before her brain caught up with her nerves.

"Pathfinder, I...what's wrong?"

She had the urge to run away, or bite her tongue off, sooner than speak. "Where's um...where's Lexi?"

"Vetra came to get her help with an accident at one of the loading bays," Suvi explained. Sara could hear the persistent concern in that soothing accent. She still couldn't look back at her. She didn't know Suvi. Breaking down and crying in front of Lexi was one thing, but not the crew she barely knew yet. "Did something happen?"

"Yes—no, I..." She stopped herself from flying into the frantic rant she was saving for Lexi. "Sorry I interrupted your—,"

"No, you're not," she insisted, setting her datapad down on Lexi's desk. Sara still refused to look Suvi back in the eye, or to even turn fully to her. It wasn't like she was hiding much at this point, just the reason for her panic. "Is something wrong?"

 _You can't trust anyone..._

"I made Scott's condition worse," Sara all but blurted out thoughtlessly. It was the only thing she could think of to stop that voice—just stun your brain with something from left field. It did the trick for Suvi too, judging from the hesitant look on her face when Sara glanced over at her. This is why she needed Lexi.

"Tell me what happened," she said, softer this time.

The thoughts she didn't care to entertain scratched at the delicate walls she set up in her head. In for a penny. "SAM found a way to...to...connect to his implant so I could talk to him. So I did, and..." She heard Scott's voice in her head, hurt and confused after hearing dad was dead. Then the pure dread in his voice when Sara told him the Initiative was struggling. He was alone, in some quasi-dream state, facing some horrid reality alone.

 _This...is a nightmare!_

"He asked about dad," she pressed on, feeling her heart twisting painfully in her chest again. "And...I had to tell him that dad was dead, that..." That he died saving her because of a lousy busted helmet. With the cybernetic eye in her skull, one would think Sara would have an aversion to landing on her face. "Then he asked about...all of this." Sara lashed her arm out dramatically, furiously at the air, "The golden worlds were a bust, all the Arks are missing, Nexus is floating in dead space, and I'm in charge of trying to fix it! You're absolutely right, it _is_ a nightmare!" And it was exactly those thoughts that Sara had been dodging for awhile now. That and how she was all alone in the land of the living with her father's burdens rolled onto her. To hear them from her own brother, helpless and frightened. She did that to him. "He...I don't know..."

"What did Dr. Carlyle say?"

 _Everything is fine._

She didn't trust herself—or anybody really. Not after she hurt her little brother like that. "Harry said it was just his heart rate becoming erratic...but it went back to normal when SAM cut the connection connection to his implant." Brain functions returned to normal coma-like operations. Harry said Scott was fine, claiming it was more of a 'stress test' of his mind and body that were otherwise off. But for Sara the damage had been done. Her one chance, maybe her last chance, to talk to Scott and she drives him straight back into a coma. "I told him the truth and...how did I expect him to react?"

"When he wakes up, he'll be happy you didn't lie." That was what Sara wanted to believe. It sounded way more convincing coming from Suvi, though the whispers in Sara's head refused to let her believe it was true. "Would you like to hear my cautionary tale of why you shouldn't lie to your sibling? I turn out _truly_ awful at the end of it."

The idea alone was enough to hook Sara's attention, daring a hesitant glance at the ginger-haired Scot that offered a soft nod. The longer she stared, the harder it was to picture such an image. "You? Awful?"

" _Truly_ awful," she repeated. Try as she might, Sara couldn't wrap her mind around the thought of Suvi doing anything mean or harmful. But it did help to redirect her mind's focus with a rather curious puzzle.

"Did you run over your sibling's bunny in the driveway?"

Suvi's smile caught the rather dated trope, but she shook her head. "Way worse than that." She stepped back and took a seat at the end of one of the medical beds, then gestured toward the second one across from her. Sara was doubtful, but nonetheless desired any distraction from her invasive thoughts. "So I was about...fifteen or sixteen around the time. Three of the five Anwar children were still in school, with the oldest in the Alliance, and the second oldest off to university. Now, it was this year that the youngest of the Anwar children joined the same academic debate team as a girl in the class above mine, Beckie Nakamoto. She and I...got close and...the short version is that it was my first relationship, and the first time it kind of dawned on me that I really liked girls. Which is important, because our parents always taught us to pursue our curiosities. So I did."

"Naturally," Sara teased, already smirking a little. She knew the story ended with Suvi being guilty of something, but she could only hazard a guess at the conclusion itself. "So how long were you and Miss Nakamoto a thing?"

"Two years."

Sara raised her brow, "That's...pretty impressive for a high school relationship."

"Even more so when you learn that your older brother actually had a huge crush on Rebecca first." Sara's jaw dropped at the revelation, as Suvi nodded stoically through her guilt. Her eyes widened when the brainy beauty did nothing to amend or even defend herself. "I didn't know until after we started...you know, but I kinda liked her myself by that point, so...I was kind of stuck."

"Oh my gosh!" Sara started smiling already, covering her mouth with both hands to keep her amusement somewhat stifled. Poor Suvi was blushing, but smiled all the same as Sara tried to control her giggling. "So...what did you do when you told your brother?"

"I didn't tell him."

She smacked a hand over her mouth again, more surprised than entertained. Then she remembered that Suvi already given away the moral of this story. "Suvi how...how did he find out?" Sara was admittedly a little scared for the former teenage vixen, but damn if her curiosity wasn't hooked.

"He found out at his graduation," Suvi explained carefully, refusing to look Sara in the eye. For good reason, as she had to cover the gaping, gawking grin on her face. Poor Suvi's blush grew brighter as she pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek. Part of her _had_ to be regretting sharing this story with Ryder. "Aiden decided he was going to finally tell her how he felt after all those years and went to look for her. She and I managed to slip away before that, to...the bathroom. But he saw her heading in that direction, and...well I was already waiting..."

"No...!" Her laughter broke through again, and try as she might, Sara couldn't get her shoulders or gut to stop shaking. Suvi's lower lip stiffening as she wrinkled her nose, nodding her guilt while Sara doubled over with side-splitting glee. When she finally caught her breath, Sara sat up quickly with a smirk aimed at the flustered genius. "I'm so sorry—what happened next?"

"Oh god...Aiden followed _her_ , heard some...oddities, then caught us, and didn't talk to me until a year later at my graduation."

"Wait, go back. Oddities?"

Suvi's bright red blush caused her eyes practically sparkled from the contrast, "I am _not_ giving you those dirty details."

"It was six-hundred years ago," she bounced back at her. Suvi hesitated to answer, and then just sighed, realizing had already dug her own grave on this. "What 'oddities' did he hear that justify barging into the bathroom on a girl?"

She groaned in protest, even though it was a totally fair question to ask. "I...knocked over some things when I was lifted onto the sink."

"Ooh," Sara teased, leaning in with mocking enthusiasm. Admittedly, Suvi was absolutely adorable as she smiled and blushed through the whole story she told.

Suvi pulled her mouth to the side, trying not to smile with Sara before taking a deep breath. "Then he knocked on the door just when I...kicked the wall behind her from uh...anyway. He thought she collapsed and instead...caught his high school crush with her hand...up his little sister's dress."

"AH!" Sara covered her mouth with both hands again and started laughing uncontrollably into them. Suvi pressed her lips together in a firm line, nodding along softly while the Pathfinder tried to stop her laughter. It wasn't much of a valiant effort, as Sara doubled over again to quietly laugh into her hands without hopefully dragging out Suvi's already prolonged embarrassment. After a bit, Sara sat up quickly, her face undoubtedly red from all the repressed efforts. "Sorry, that's just... _truly_ awful."

Suvi broke out in laughter, finally, which started Sara up again. She was glad the brainy girl could laugh at her own story, rather than just sharing a dumb story to solely distract her. Sara stopped laughing first, her sides literally starting to hurt, but she couldn't stop smiling at the ending of that particular tale. Unfortunately, Sara was more sympathetic towards Aiden, though she did feel sorry for the other poor high school Scot. The Pathfinder, regretfully, knew what it was like to walk through a door with no idea that she would end up mentally scarred by the scene on the other side. But that was a story for another time.

"My point," Suvi started, thankfully drawing Sara out of her own thoughts again. " _When_ Scott wakes up, he's going to be glad that you didn't lie to him. He'll be happy you visited him in the hospital. And he'll be happy you were honest with him, no matter how much the truth hurts."

She allowed Suvi's words to sink in, and was admittedly surprised when they seemed to work. Had she lied to Scott, he would have been understandably furious with her. Sara's relationship with her father was one thing, but Scott had always been closer to him. Waking up to that, and finding out Sara had lied to her...that would have been much worse. Something their mom would have agreed with. Sara already had enough secrets from her family as it was—most of them being buried six centuries behind her.

She smiled at Suvi, feeling warmth rush to her cheeks when she realized she didn't have to wrestle with her own thoughts for the time being. "Thank you. Sorry you had to embarrass yourself to make me feel better."

"As long as it helps," Suvi said, fighting her own blush. "That's one of my better stories to be honestly."

"I still appreciate it anyway." It was definitely a different approach than Lexi's. The good doctor didn't have many entertaining stories she liked to share with Sara. Probably for good reason. "So, your brother forgave you?"

"After getting even with me at my graduation, yes." Sara opened her mouth slowly, the smile creeping back on her face that Suvi caught. "He brought his girlfriend at the time. First thing he says to me is that he's getting even, gave me my present, then I didn't see him for about an hour."

"Oh damn..."

Suvi shrugged, "I didn't see, or hear anything. I still think he got the worse end of."

When her imagination wandered a bit, Sara cringed at the idea of her brother walking in on her, rather than the other way around. She still wished bleach came with a mental scrubbing pad—or at the very least she could look at Cora and not think of it. In either case, it was a situation Sara could have lived without.

She giggled again when thinking back to poor Suvi's story—since it was a better visual to entertain than Scott's ass. The brainy beauty smiled back at Sara without saying a word. Much better visuals of the mind.

The doors opened, making Sara sit up quickly, her and Suvi turning to Lexi as she walked into the room. She met their joint gaze, rather surprised herself to see them together—and both giving her the same startled look. The next second, Sara started to see the gears turning in Lexi's brain as her gaze started to become increasingly critical. "It's not what you think," Sara said immediately. "Suvi is trying to steal your job."

She heard an betrayed scoff from Suvi's direction, prompting her to smile, while Lexi looked at her skeptically—and only her. It was a common folktale that _some_ asari could read minds, but Lexi knew Sara well enough to read the repressed expression on the Pathfinder's face. "Mh," she hummed pensively. At least she was successful in tripping Lexi up for a moment.

"I-I'm not trying to steal your job, Lexi." Suvi was less observant at reading the mood of the room. Sara laughed and thanked whatever good fortune she had left before sliding off the bed. She looked at the Pathfinder, _then_ got the joke. "You're a troublemaker, Ryder!"

"So if you want the job, you just have to ask," Lexi added, with a coy, knowing smile. Like she didn't love her job. "Is everything alright, Sara?" Her professional, worried—default—demeanor returned to her effortlessly.

"Yeah, it's...I'll tell you later." She still wanted to let her good mood last, and thinking about what happened with Scott would just get her anxious again. Then Lexi would probably tell her the same thing as Suvi, affirm Harry's statement, and encourage her some that telling the truth was the right thing to do. At least her way, Sara didn't have to deal with the follow-up questions from her best friend about what was apparently becoming a new crush of hers. "Suvi was in here first, actually, so I'll let myself out, and let you girls catch up." Lexi pulled her mouth to the side, her lips pulling up in that adorable half-smirk of hers, confirming her suspicious that Sara was being flighty. She scrunched her nose at her friend before turning back to Suvi with a smile, "Thank you again, Dr. Anwar."

She returned her own brilliant smile, "My pleasure, Pathfinder."

Sara took one last look at her Scottish savior before turning around, immediately shooting Lexi as menacing a scowl as she could muster with her cheeks burning. The threatening expression was only about skin deep, and Lexi knew it as she fired back with a sideways smirk on Ryder's way though the door.

"What did the science team figure out?" Lexi asked Suvi as she stepped into the med bay. Sara couldn't read the doctor's mind, but she knew that blue smartass well enough to know what she was thinking too.

She made it back to her quarters, heaving back onto the edge of her bed, leaning on her arms. The unfortunate tale of the Anwar heart-breaker brought another giggle out. She tried to shake the image of a younger Sara Ryder in that bathroom with her instead—but only because she had no idea of what Beckie Nakamoto looked like. Sara grabbed the nearest pillow and dropped it over her face when she couldn't shake the imaginative thought. Of course she could have literally made anyone to take Beckie's place, but no. And now she has a dumb fantasy about one of her crew.

But Sara had a bad habit of wanting to put herself in those more ordinary lives with family, school, friends, and girlfriends. Instead it was isolation, untamed biotic potential, hospitals for her and/or Scott as a byproduct, and eventually under an asari matriarch's wing, before joining the Alliance, and then Omega...

Now she was in a different galaxy, leading thousands of settlers through unknown space against anything and everything that could possibly go wrong. Normalcy would be a good change of pace for her.

Feeling more anxious again, Sara sat up, catching the pillow in her lap as it dropped from her face, and looked at the glowing projection of SAM on her desk. She could feel the dark clawing at the back of her neck again with its piercing claws. "Hey, SAM? Is Scott...still okay?"

" _His condition has not changed—he is holding stable."_

The doubt and guilt threatened to build up in her chest again. "You're not lying to me just to make me feel better?"

" _I do not know how to lie."_

She couldn't help but crack a smile at the cold, logical comfort that SAM was the only voice in her head she could trust. "Don't lie to me if you figure it out..."

" _I will not. Pathfinder, may I offer an opinion?"_

"Go ahead," she offered, a bit more than curious. SAM didn't take the chance to talk out of turn too often, although she was picking up on how he could be a bit more sassy when they were out in the field with other members of the crew around.

" _I agree with Dr. Anwar's statement. Lying to Scott would have—,"_

"Thank you, SAM." She meant it, but she could do without the explanation, and the detailed reminder, of what happened when she 'did the right thing.' There was enough going on in her head without giving it something else to put weight to her guilt and shame. And it wasn't likely that SAM had any funny stories about himself to gently lob the point home to her. It took a second to realize that SAM was just being wholly honest with her. "Feel free to state your opinion more openly in the future. I didn't mean to cut you off."

" _Thank you, Pathfinder."_

She fell back onto her bed again, staring up at the ceiling. It didn't hit Sara how tired she really was, until she drifted easily back to sleep again.

* * *

 **Hey all, sorry about the dry spell. Life needs living unfortunately, and I wanted to feel productive today, so here's the...fourth version of this chapter? I rewrote a few times, before opting to just focus on innocent fluff instead of action and rewriting the Andromeda script. So hopefully you all enjoy the silly fluffiness. Sorry if parts of it seem rushed or ignored, but I really just wanted to get something out since I also personally hate my dry spells, and I'm trying to pull away from copying game dialogue in favor of more...original character interactions.**

 **Also, a little side disclaimer, I apologize if the little...risque story with Suvi was in any way inappropriate or anything. I'm aware I'm a straight man writing for gay women, but the story itself was just kind of meant to be a funny/embarrassing tale to make Sara feel better about giving her brother a psuedo-heartattack. I'm not trying to smut peddle anything, or devalue any characters (because I cannot adore Suvi/Sara anymore than I already do), it was just a story telling mechanic to add some depth and bonding and exploring Suvi's character a bit more. I mean, she did immediately jump at the chance to travel to a new galaxy without her family at all. I feel like she's a BIT more adventurous than your typical shy wallflower, but that's just me.**  
 **That being said, I'm very much open to any critiques, insights, or advice anyone from the LGBTQA community could have for me in my portrayal of these two. I mean, in my head love is just...love, but I'm also highly aware men have a...skewed perception of how to write for women-and I've kinda plunged myself into the deep end by writing about women who like women. Again, to me (and with the setting of Mass Effect being a few centuries into the future, so hopefully we get our heads out of our asses by then), love is just love-but at the same time I don't want to drive people away accidentally through my own ignorance. I'd rather be aware of "overly" sensitive people than I would pretending to be a pretentious dick who thinks he knows what he's doing. Toooooo many people doing that already xD**

 **With that said and done, if you're reading this, thank you for reading this, and taking the time to scroll through my story of awkwardness. If you enjoyed, have comments, or critiques, reviews help to feed my addiction to writing. Have a fabulous day, and thank you again!**


	4. Chapter 4: Working Vacation

An explosion blew out half of the walls in a kett outpost across the sandy dunes of Eos, followed by a dark, bellowing laugh that chased the kett themselves out of their own fortification. Out from the flames, Drack came charging after behind them as his shotgun blasted round after round at them.

"That's right! RUN!"

Following Drack's trail of destruction, Sara and Peebee jumped through the fire, but just watched the gigantic krogan pursue the enemy. "He...really likes breaking things."

"Is it bad I'm a little jealous of how happy he is just murdering the kett?"

"As long as he's not murdering me."

Sara smirked, "You better stop sneaking tastes when he decides to cook for us then."

Peebee threw her head back with a frustrated groan, "I can't believe he actually made me eat a sandwich!"

"He did warned you." She gave a sullen pout when faced with the facts. Peebee's valid excuse being, 'but it smelled SO good!' Drack wasn't a man of threats—only promises, be it death to his enemies or letting the crew starve. Sara understood the need to rebel, especially since Peebee was anything but a home-body, but she also knew well enough not to test the mettle of a grumpy old man.

"Think we should help him finish off the stragglers?"

"I think we would just ruin the fun for him." Drack laughed in the distance as he ran the last kett soldier through with his bayonet, as if to affirm the Pathfinder's statement. Thankfully, neither Sara nor Peebee seemed too eager to overwork themselves in Eos' much improved, but still incredibly hot, weather.

"I hope I can have that much fun when I'm his age."

"Matriarch Peebee has an interesting ring to it."

"Ugh, never mind, I hope I'm dead."

"You're terrible at stereotyping."

"Oh, right. Your teacher was a matriarch..."

"Oh, right. I told you about her." Sara felt a bit trapped, but only because Aneria _did_ have a lot of stereotypical matriarch traits that grated Peebee's nerves. But Sara's old teacher had her charms, her own wit, passions and motives, professional and personal. She was certainly more than a woman, 'just waiting to die,' as Peebee and Drack earlier discussed.

Peebee shrugged, "Now we both know something personal about each other I guess." Sara's was less accidental, and a lot less uncomfortable than Peebee's ex barging into the apartment during Poc's big unveiling. But only because the Pathfinder found it a little too familiar to something she left behind in her own past. She could only sympathize with the poor girl that her ex girlfriend came with her to Andromeda. "Thanks for uh...putting up with my thing."

Sara rubbed her right shoulder as the old scars beneath her armor started to itch, but couldn't help but smile at her fellow troublemaker, "I've put up with worse from you." Peebee shoved Ryder's arm, all in good fun. To be fair, everyone on the ship found themselves the victim of Peebee's antics in some form or another. Most just rolled with the punches, but some were a little more rigid than that. And those were the people that Peebee enjoyed terrorizing the most. Although she didn't talk about it, Sara understood Peebee's attitude a lot better than most people. Which was odd, considering Lexi had such difficulty with Peebee. "I'm surprised you let yourself forget about that. It's not like I try to hide the fact I admire your culture."

"Yeah, but you don't talk about it that much. It's easy to forget."

"I literally have a tribal tattoo of your people stamped on my face."

"Yeah, but I don't remember which one it is, and I don't really care that much." That was one of the best things about Peebee—she didn't like to pry, and just asked for the same courtesy. Unfortunately, that was one of the biggest problems between the flippant Remnant expert and Lexi—whose job was to know everything, or at least something, about everyone. Sara knew her friend would win out eventually though. Peebee was just another tough egg to crack. "It's something to do with sisters, right?"

"Yup."

"And...your brother?"

Sara smiled, then shrugged dismissively, "The only sibling I've got."

Peebee smiled back, "Does he have a girl's tattoo?"

"It's not his fault your people don't have actual genders."

"I bet there's a story about how you convinced him to get that mark." Indeed there was, but it wasn't something Sara felt like sharing. And technically, it was Aneria that convinced Scott to get his mark first. The story about twins getting matching tattoos was one thing, the reason why was something the Pathfinder didn't want to get into.

"Are you two done holding hands?!" They turned their heads in the same direction—toward Drack hanging out of the Nomad. "I'll drive off without you if I need to!"

"You are _not_ driving my baby!" Sara was the first to start running—since Drack didn't make threats after all.

* * *

Prodromos, the Initiative's first colony since activating the Remnant vault on Eos, had thrived since its settling, about a few weeks ago on the planet itself. Since the climate had settled, exploration, research, and conflict all arose, as were the expectations that came with exploration in hostile new lands. Through it all, Mayor Bradley managed to juggle all of his new responsibilities as the colony as it grew with the Initiative's efforts. There was even talks of the angara thinking of setting up as their neighbors someday—though Bradley voiced to the crew that it was unlikely to be anytime soon. Though that didn't stop rumors about Prodromos opening its doors to their new Heleus allies.

There was plenty to do at the settlement, and even more to help out with. Thankfully, Suvi was able to move about the various science teams, helping out where she was needed most. Perhaps the best part of all was sharing stories of new discoveries, hers visiting planets like Havarl, Voeld, and Aya, while the others would share their discoveries all across Eos. It truly seemed like the Initiative would be successful in settling the planet at this rate. The kett occupation seemed far weaker than that of the force of Voeld, and the APEX teams were already making great strides to push them back. With two away teams from the Tempest to boot, Suvi almost felt sorry for the hostile forces on the planet. Almost.

She was looking over the climbing and falling numbers involved with Eos' subtly shifting climate in the main observation lab on Prodromos' grounds. It was a surprisingly empty place, but considering how much activity there was on the planet, and setting up shipping routes with the Nexus and their angaran allies, Bradley considered it a favor that Suvi spent her time punching in the numbers. The planet was still a little too dangerous for Suvi to dare field work, though she had been dying to see more of Andromeda's worlds. Aya was the most she had gotten to see off the Tempest.

The only real company she had was Liam, who was the odd man out when Ryder and Cora were selecting their teams. Sara, Drack, and Peebee were tearing around in the Nomad, taking the fight to the kett—and likely searching for Remnant with Peebee in the group. Cora, Vetra, and Jaal took a shuttle and went investigating safer, but unknown territory. The only reason Liam lingered in the observation area was because it was also the best place to monitor the communications coming in and out of the settlement—at least while Gil was busy reworking their entire system to make everything better. If anyone needed emergency help, Liam wanted to be the first person to head out. Though he could still do something other than sit around being bored.

"When do you think we'll get beaches on this planet?"

"Oceans? Centuries...with assistance." Liam groaned, leaning back in his chair, feet propped up on an inactive console. "At least the planet isn't getting scorched by radiation."

"I guess that's an improvement." Suvi had heard that the planet Elaaden was worse than Eos, but the Initiative's information on that place was spotty at best. All they really knew for certain is that the krogan setup camp on that planet. "You know what that tattoo on the Pathfinder's face is?"

She sighed and looked over at Liam, feeling a bit disappointed that he was resorting to gossip to pass the time. "She said her brother got the tattoo to match the scar, so she got the tattoo to mimic him."

"Peebee said it was an asari thing."

Damn it—now she had questions. She tapped her foot softly, trying to ignore the nagging inquiries that started bouncing around in her head. They had only just met when Sara told her about her tattoo, of course she wouldn't be honest about it. The tattoo was a little too intricate to just be something random. She thought on the dark, mysterious designs stamped around her eye, across from the scars on the other side of her face. And those bright, glittering eyes that shined whenever she laughed...

She was getting off track. Damn it, Liam.

Suvi could feel him smile when she hurried to catch up with a spike in the sequences—though it was namely the squeaking of his chair when he leaned over that tipped her off. "You're not curious about the boss?"

'Curious' probably wasn't the worst word to use. "I don't think it's professional to discuss her personal history."

"It's a tattoo on her face, it's not like it wouldn't come up in conversation." He was just as bad as her older brother, Henri. "I bet Cora would know the truth."

Lousy bait, Liam. "Why? Because she knows a lot about the asari?" she asked dryly.

"No, because she screwed Ryder."

She couldn't help but to whirl around in the next instant. Then Liam's taunting grin made it obvious that she did in fact take the bait. Shite.

"You...you're terrible!"

"Not the Pathfinder," Liam amended, grinning widely. "The brother."

Goddamn it, of course it was the brother. Cora was as straight as a freaking piston. "Wait," Suvi said out loud as she pieced it together finally. She glanced back at Liam, who just waited with a coy, slappable smile on his face. Curiosity swept her mind away on a myriad of questions. "Is...that why they don't get along?"

"Sara and her brother?" _That_ earned him a firm smack with the datapad in her hands. "Ow! No, Sara and Cora is...a little more complicated than that. But no, walking in on her brother screwing their dad's first lieutenant probably didn't help things."

Suvi's thoughts slammed to an immediate halt as she felt her face heat up. "She...what?" She truly wanted to stop asking questions, but Hendrick wouldn't let her. Namely because her older brother would have just _loved_ the irony.

Liam's smile only grew when he realized he had her hooked. "Back in the Milky Way, we were all doing Initiative training, getting to know each other on the Big Ryder's Pathfinder team. Sara was brought in later than the rest of us, but by then Scott and Cora were already pretty chummy. First thing Sara ever says to me, 'you got any bleach? Every goddamn uniform is completely white, and nobody has any fucking bleach.'" Liam thankfully didn't actually try to impersonate Ryder, but he did laugh at the quote. Suvi probably would have appreciated the humor, if she weren't reminded about the story she shared with the Pathfinder just the other day about her other older brother walking in on her and Beckie. "So I ask her what went wrong, then she tells me she walked in on Scott and Cora fully uh...going at it."

"Oh, god," Suvi verbalized with distress. All she could think about was how inappropriate she felt sharing a damn near identical story—except she was the Scott Ryder. Shite, what was Sara thinking after she left the med bay though? Did Suvi make things worse?

Then she remembered Ryder smiling, laughing, and giggling throughout the story. It couldn't have all been an act on the Pathfinder's part, so maybe she did help?

"I mean, she says all she saw was Scott's ass, but—,"

"Liam, stop!" It was hardly an appropriate conversation, considering the incident involved the team's still acting first lieutenant. And the Pathfinder leading the whole group. If Suvi had to hazard a guess, Sara, Cora, and Liam were probably the only members of the crew privy to that information. Well, now her too. Cora was going to kill Liam if she ever found out he started talking about it. "Why are you telling me this anyway?"

"I'm bored," he answered with an honest shrug. He was definitely going to be dead a lot sooner than he thought.

" _Cora to Prodromos. Come in Prodromos?"_

Of fucking course. "Not a word," Suvi snapped, sensing a snide little remark coming from his general direction. It was going to be hard enough to keep her professional view of Cora in check as is thanks to him. "This is Prodromos. Is everything alright, Cora?"

" _I've planted the second seismic sensor in the location that the geological team marked for us, but we're getting some weird vibrations out here. I know it's a bit premature, but are you getting any strange readings on your end?"_

Suvi quickly shifted her brain into working mode as she entertained the idea of something new and thrilling to uncover, though the realist in her said that nothing extraordinary ever happened by planting sensors in a desert. Sure enough, there was a spike in the underground shifts after Cora's team set the first two devices—the second more severe than the first, but neither being anything extremely out of the ordinary. Bradley had said there were quakes ranging from slight to disorienting, but nothing dangerous. The strangest thing was out there seemed to be a reaction to the away team planting the sensors. With the changes being created by Eos' vault, it was impossible to really know what was happening below the surface.

"Running deeper scans," Suvi informed the biotic lieutenant over the radio. "So far, nothing seems out of the ordinary." Deeper scans were harder to make sense of with only two of the three, not to mention it would take longer, but Suvi knew how to read through a majority of the noise from the readings to get at the good stuff. No matter what language, what planet, or what galaxy, rocks were rocks. Though factoring in the Remnant structures were a curious new challenge for Suvi. She was no Moshae Sjefa, Peebee, or Ryder, but Suvi had spent plenty of time working with SAM on trying to figure out the Remnant. There wasn't much she offered the super intelligent AI, but there was always something new for her to learn from him. "I'm not seeing anything yet. But we won't really know for sure unless..."

" _Unless we cause more quakes."_

That would definitely get the ball rolling, but was undoubtedly an awful choice if Cora was worried about what could be down there. For all they knew, unfolding more Remnant constructs could be just as harmful as it was beneficial. They could nuke the entire planet, raise the temperature another hundred degrees, or even flood the desert.

"What should we do?" Suvi stopped the idea of calling the Pathfinder on her tongue when she remembered Liam's proximity. Damn him—this information was already screwing with her.

" _We've got a few more places to scout out in the area. Keep an eye on those scans for me, and let me know if anything changes, alright?"_

"Understood. Good luck out there." The line was dropped—then Suvi allowed herself to breathe. She heard Liam snicker behind her, and responded by throwing her datapad back at him. Perfect shot.

* * *

"You nearly shot me!"

"Oh shut up, I did not."

"NEARLY! Yes you _nearly_ did in fact shoot me!"

"Yeah, I knew where I was shooting."

Drack just laughed from the sidelines, earning a fierce scowl from from a shaken Peebee. He met her huffy attitude with a smile before jerking his head over in Sara's direction, "I owe her ten credits." Peebee's eyes widened to dangerous sizes when she learned the true instigator of her scare—a betting dare from Drack. Sara just watched, smiling to the wonderful mess she caused.

"You told her to shoot me!?"

"I bet her she couldn't hit that Remnant you didn't notice," he corrected, ending with a condescending tone to shame. They both nodded at the remains of the bot Sara shot down, directing the unaware asari's attention to it. "There's a bit of a difference."

Peebee stamped fitfully—and just under her dark streak of makeup was that rare shade of all natural asari blush at the top of her cheeks. "I-I did too notice it!"

"Please, you were literally halfway up that Assembler's ass." Drack laughed out harder at the rather painful reality that Peebee had shamelessly crawled into the destroyed bot's undercarriage. "What was her excuse again?"

"He was bigger than the rest. Musta been special." They both smiled and chuckled their teeth at the defenseless, Remnant obsessed nut. She just scowled hatefully at them, her nose pulled halfway up her face.

"Right, but she didn't see the Observer observing her."

"Lucky we were here," Drack chimed. Sara had the last laugh when she threw her head back, holstering her Sandstorm rifle—that she didn't bring along for any particularly ironic reason. "You should watch your six before you go crawling into someone else's." Okay, Ryder had one last giggle.

"Come on, I'll buy you something to drink," Sara offered, trying to make Peebee feel better. "Just don't piss yourself again."

Drack started it again—not that Sara was trying. "You two are just so fucking funny. Starving me with sandwiches, shooting at me. I don't know why I put up with you people!" Peebee kicked the Observer, and lifted the above-average Assembler up with a biotic field—before launching it out several meters away from the both of them. "I'll be buggering around in that robot's ass in case you want to make anymore jokes about it!"

"Ryder, you good?"

She started wheezing a bit trying to restrain her amusement, "No, I think I'm good. Have fun mousing around!" Peebee threw her middle finger back without turning around as she stomped off into the sandier parts of the dunes, away from the Remnant site they had finished clearing. "Goddess, I love this vacation." Drack groaned as he glanced over noticeably in her direction. She would have been offended, if she wasn't accustomed to disapproving looks from grumpy old men. "Have I offended thou, o oldest of the krogan?"

He shrugged dismissively, pulling his eye away from her. "I'm just old and hold onto my culture. Don't understand why anyone would adopt someone else's." It was a particularly thankless heritage, as he so often pointed out, but Sara knew better than to say that."Though I guess humans are kind of boring."

"There were plenty of different deities of worship in human culture—some of which were in fact women." Not that Sara was the only alien in the Milky Way that adopted another people's culture—though humanity really wasn't around long enough to make that sort of impact with the other species.

"Are those the ones your praising?"

She paused, then offered a shrug when she looked away from him. The only thing ahead of them was a fidgeting, destroyed Remnant bot, and a lot of sand around it. "Honestly? I don't really think about it. Humans have a way of doing that too."

"Krogan do too." There was their shared cynicism shining through. Perhaps it was just Sara, but she felt that they were approaching the point where they would have to share a drink if this continued. "That teacher of yours—she give you that sword?"

"Yup. Wanna touch it?" He gave an amused huff, but held out his hand. She unsheathed the blade in question from her back and tossed it to him. She knew he liked blades, and weapons in general. That email with the pictures of guns in particular still made her smile. It was a poor effort, perhaps even a joke, but there was still enough sincerity in the effort to brighten Sara's mood at the time.

"Not bad. A lot older than you though."

She nodded, "It was hers. She gave it to me before coming here." Something that still didn't fully sit right with her—but it was something Aneria insisted upon. Asari huntresses and their swords were like laser swords for the Jedi in those ancient films she use to watch—to be handled and cared for through combat and crisis. If their blades endured and survived into their matriarchal age, traditions would have them hand the sword down through their family, or successors. Aneria never had daughters of her own—and Sara would never in a billion years say that she was the perfect, or even a good daughter to any of her parents.

Drack held the sword with both hands, examining it closely before he offered it back. She twisted her wrist and snatched it back with a biotic field before they both started to walk back to the Nomad. She noted something almost sympathetic in the fossil's cold, predatory eyes. Maybe he knew a bit about asari tradition after all.

"Must be pretty special."

"It is," Sara said with a bit more pride. The sword was older than a few generations of her family—having spilled a lot of blood across the Milky Way throughout the centuries. A fact the old matriarch didn't mind sharing offhandedly. Not unlike a certain krogan of advanced age. Aneria was at least a couple of centuries younger though. Most asari didn't count their age by single years, but what was a century between beings that lived for a millennium?

"She didn't come with you?" She flinched, took a deep breath, and shook her head. Drack sucked for his bluntness sometimes. He really sucked for how smart he was too. "Tough break."

"She had a lot to stay behind for. Me and my family really didn't." Especially not after her father got them kicked out of the Alliance, and shamed by the greater galactic community.

"Doesn't make it easier to leave that behind." He turned his head to the sword in her hand, "She gave you a hell of a goodbye present. Raised a hell of a fighter too."

Aneria's gift was a piece of her, that was for certain. Sara offered the best smile she could to acknowledge the respect he gave her teacher—and her. "She did. I still don't think I deserve the sword though."

"Was she using it?"

Sara smiled—still somewhat unsure to the honest core of her imagination if Aneria didn't use this blade a time or two during her 'retirement.' She was a terrifying, intimidating woman when she wanted to be, and certainly didn't shy away from her time as a huntress. Sara had even heard whispers that Aneria was considered for the path of Justicar once upon a time. "I don't think so. She let me use it once before..." He didn't say anything, but stared at her. Sara looked back at him, waiting for him to say or ask something, but he just continued to stare...through—no, past her? Either way, he really wasn't looking at the Pathfinder.

Sara turned around to see that Drack was staring at the distant, lonely location of their scavenging asari. They stopped just short of the Nomad and stared out together in a moment of shared, appreciated silence.

"What the hell can she be looking for in that thing?"

Sara ducked her head, smiling shamelessly, but trying not to laugh again altogether. "I think she's just pissed off at us."

"Think that'll hurt your chances with her?"

She pulled her head back to stare at the presumptuous old man. It wasn't exactly a very quiet gossip aboard the ship that people thought something was going on between Sara and Peebee. Two relaxed, funny girls with a fondness of leather jackets and pissing people off? No, not a recipe for disaster at all. Not that Peebee wasn't a delight to be around, genuinely so.

Sara's cruel mind went to work again. "Please, she'd rather be inside that Assembler rather than me." They started chortling again, but Sara put her hand out to stop it before they began the teasing again. "Shhh, don't, don't, we'll be out here all day."

Sara had never seen a krogan pout, but the look Drack had was about as close as she thinks they could get to the expression. "So she's not your type?"

"You mean me—a hot mess? No thanks, I'm dealing with enough mess."

"You think she'll let us die for a big fancy new robot?" he asked, _extremely_ evasively.

Sara threw her head back with a small laugh, rolling her eyes at the old man that averted her challenging gaze. "Nice save. And after almost shooting her? Probably. Honestly, we probably are overdue for some new type of Remnant..."

There was a pause. A very long, long pause. She meant it as a joke, but when she said it out loud...

"I'll watch your back, you watch mine?" Drack asked.

"You bet my ass we will." It wasn't like hers wouldn't be on the line anyway.

Another moment of silence passed. "So who do you like?"

"Oh we're doing this now?"

"What's your type?" Sara turned away, shaking her head and just watching Peebee continue to avoid their general presence. Though at the moment, she could only envy her fellow troublemaker. "Not asari...Vetra says you haven't been too interested in her."

"Can we not?"

"So there is someone."

Shit. Silence was an admission of guilt.

"No." Wait—did she like anybody?

 _Yes._

Shit.

"Who is it?" Drack persisted.

 _Denial is admission too._

"I don't—know what you're...talking about." What—not who damn it. Who did she like? She didn't like anybody. She hated most people outside of the crew. Oh shit, it was someone in the crew!

Drack just smiled, narrowing his menacing gaze in on her. "Can't be the idiot..."

"Which one?"

A pause. Now she was just being dodgey. There was only one real idiot.

"Harper?"

Sara recoiled as a painful, bare image flashed from her memories, "No, absolutely not."

"Yeah, Kosta told me about her and your brother."

She smacked her gloved palm over her face in frustration. Of course he did. "God...damn it, Liam!"

 _'Liam, damn it, where are you—Pathfinder?'_

Sara looked down at her arm that was suddenly speaking to her with a Scottish accent—seeing her omni-tool had turned on. "Suvi?" The realization smacked her so hard she spun around just in time to see it hit Drack too. They had forgotten about Suvi. "Oh, shit!"

 _'W-wait, what's wrong!?'_

"N-nothing!" Everything. She glared and snapped a finger at the amused krogan, silencing him before he had a chance to start with a sinister fucking laugh of his. "Sorry, what's happening?" Drack's grin towards her was more menacing than when he was murdering kett. It chilled Sara to her very core.

 _'Cora's team, they've...awoken something—something big! You need to get to their coordinates immediately! Liam ran off to...I don't know!'_

"Alright, just stop Liam from doing anything stupid! We're on our way." Whatever amusement they had happening was thankfully shot down with the emergency of something big and life threatening. Nonetheless, Sara flipped off her omni-tool, and shot a glare at Drack as they climbed into the Nomad—her in the driver's seat of course. "I swear, I will slit your throat with this sword old man."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll outlive your secrets kid." She wasn't sure if that was a threat, or just a statement of fact. Either way, there was no time to ponder it, as she gunned the Nomad towards Peebee's little sulking den. "Double or nothing if you jinxed us."

"What happened to having each other's back?" They pulled to a stop and opened up the doors. "Emergency, no time for you to pout!" Peebee turned around with a mildly annoyed look, but quickly climbed into the Nomad without hesitation. "Cora's team ran into some trouble."

"And they want help from the team of troublemakers?"

"They've got Vetra," Drack said.

"True."

Gunning the new boosters that Gil had installed on the Nomad, they managed to clear a majority of the distance across the dunes within a few minutes—which was more than enough time to see the very large Remnant creation flying around in the sky like a mechanical, wingless serpent. Sara nearly rolled to a stop when they all saw it, but the flashes of gunfire, explosions, and biotics reminded her that they were on a bit of a rescue mission. She gunned the boost again, sparing a glance in Drack's direction, and found him staring straight at her again. She knew immediately what he was thinking.

"Yeah, I've got your back." Or maybe he was going to just call her out for jinxing them. They both looked back together to see Peebee was unsurprisingly, utterly starstruck by the three-armed, mechanical leviathan. She awed a bit longer, open mouthed and starry eyed, before catching the pair of disappointed stares aimed her way.

Peebee's blush threatened to return quickly, "What?!"

"You think this one is sensitive to people who want to crawl up it's ass?"

Sara smiled as she turned her eyes back to the path ahead, "The kaiju Remnant, or Peebee?"

Drack paused. "Which do you think will fit in the other?"

Sara broke out in laughter as they pulled up closer—close enough to see the other team fending off Remnant from behind a collection of rocks, while the giant squid-bot rained down a hail of energy blasts to keep them pinned down.

"Okay, you know what?"

Before Peebee could finish her thought, Ryder gunned the boost to plow the first row of Remnant down with the Nomad's grill. The sudden forward momentum threw Peebee back into her seat without much effort—so much for not wearing her seatbelt—before she could finish whatever smarmy thought she had for them. Only four of about a dozen of the Remnant reinforcements were taken out.

"Whip us around," Drack shouted as he grabbed his iconic, and destructive hammer. Sara always loved this next part.

The Nomad coasted up a small incline, reaching the peak before Sara whipped the girl's ass end around, then boosted straight back down. Peebee gave another frightened yelp as she was tossed around in the back. The Remnant line had turned their attention onto the Nomad. The main force continued onward towards Cora's team, but three Assemblers, and four of the six Observers moved towards the six-wheeled beast. Sara did a double-take up towards the biggest threat on the board, and saw that it's one burning red eye was looking down on, and following them. The second look was to make sure that it wasn't attacking them—and a third to confirm the second.

"You got this, old man?" Her answer came with a rush of wind coming into the Nomad that shifted Sara off course before righting the vehicle. That sure as hell wasn't a no.

The Nomad boosted one last time towards the Remnant, then pulled to the side at the last second to cut off their main force, headed by a pair of Nullifiers. Drack leaped out of the speeding vehicle, raising the hammer of his people high above his hump, before bringing all his fury and strength down onto the first Nullifier. The bot's armor caved like tinfoil under the weight and force brought down upon it, just before Drack planted his feet on the sand.

He turned just as the second took notice, and locked down with its weapons aimed and shield raised. Sara was too far and too late to turn the Nomad around to help. Not to mention as soon as she looked up, she saw something charging in the massive one's eye. "Shit!"

The Nomad boosted into action again—and a quick glance towards Drack showed he was doing fine. He had stormed up the Nullifier's tactical projectile shield while its weapons charged, and came down once again with a crushing blow from his hammer. Drack was surrounded, and in incredible danger. Of course, he gave a thrilling laugh before swinging his hammer into an Assembler, and then launching that one up into a hovering Observer to create a smashed ball of Remnant pieces.

The towering behemoth fire down an orb of energy and...something else. Whatever it was, it wasn't friendly—and it ripped through solid rock like grated cheese. That wasn't going to happen to Sara Ryder's Nomad.

"This thing is incredible!"

"I could really do without the enemy fanfare."

Peebee instead climbed into the front seat and immediately buckled up to get a better view. "It's beautiful! Where did it come from?"

 _'The Remnant creature was awoken when Lieutenant Harper's team was planting seismic sensors for Prodromos' geological science team.'_

The same hail of energy cannon fire it rained down before started blasting down around the Nomad—landing a few solid hits against her shields too. "Damn it! Why can't we put a fucking cannon on this thing?!"

"So it came from underground?" Sara shot a venomous glare in Peebee's direction as they drifted up another sandy incline to avoid taking extra shots—then boosted the Nomad forward to keep the girl moving one step ahead of the enemy fire. "Oh my gosh...considering it's size, and that energy blast...oh my gosh! I bet it has something to do with the vault! O-or maybe it dug the tunnels to make space for the construction—or both!"

"Peebee, I swear to your people's Goddess...!"

 _'It is a most likely possibility.'_

"SAM! NOT! NOW!" Something bounced off the hood of the car—something that looked particularly explosive, with several more landing around the Nomad's perimeter. "Oh shit." They acted like explosives too.

The blasts tore through the last of the shields, and part of the vehicle's armor. Sara pulled it to a stop next to a nearby Remnant site and opened the doors. Peebee jumped out immediately with her, and took cover as it charged up its energy cannon again. They weren't going anywhere as the barrage bombarded any available open space with shots. Thankfully, Sara found a place for herself. Unfortunately, it was also shared with Peebee.

"Ooh, what about Architect?"

Sara glared at her again—which went ignored. This went better when she had Drack. "Seriously? You don't want to name it something a little more subtle?"

"Like what?"

The 'Architect,' let out an ear-rattling roar that could have went for miles. Sara's expression remained flat, but Peebee's stayed infuriatingly curious. This was definitely her getting revenge.

"Never mind. SAM, what do we know about that thing?"

"Oh my gosh! It can create babies! Oh shit, they're coming this way."

Sara had to restrain herself from kicking Peebee out of cover to give herself a moment.

 _'Lieutenant Harper's team has determined that the Architect is impervious to damage by normal means. Conduits will open up at the base of its tendrils, and will be vulnerable for a shot time. Cora's team has managed to destroy one conduit on its leg, and found out that doing so creates a window of opportunity to damage to its power core, or 'head.' Further study is required, though I do not have any combat relevant data at this time.'_

At least he knew how to keep it brief—though she didn't appreciate SAM adopting Peebee's name for the new Remnant thing. It wasn't like she had anything in mind other than 'big dumb death machine.' "Okay, so who's closest to the next vulnerable point?"

 _'We are.'_

Of course. "Alright, so we're improvising."

"Hooray..." Peebee cheered so joylessly. "I'm pretty sure that conduit is open by the—HEY!"

Sara anchored her reach onto the Architect's leg, and yanked herself forward as hard as she could. There was always a little bit of a tug, a small give, to whatever a Vanguard would connect their biotics too before launching themselves. Not so much with the Architect.

 _If you're going to hit a wall, brace yourself to hit a wall._

Aneria's lesson triggered Sara to lift up her arms and legs, raising a kinetic wall of blue energy to brace herself for the impact she thoughtlessly pulled herself into. Just before the hit, Sara thrust her arms out to push all the momentum forward as close as possible to the glowing red conduits. All the energy moved, bending around the Architect's leg for a second before the rebound burst outward, tearing through the inner workings of the overheated conduit. Thankfully, Sara had held onto one of the outer plates to avoid being thrown off when the behemoth recoiled from pain.

The vents to the conduits were about to close, but Sara was already there, and refused to stop tearing it apart now. She pulled out her master's sword and thrust the blade down before the shutters could close, penetrating the glowing, red hot reactor. There was an immense pressure trying to resist her, but the ancient asari craft held strong in her hands. Sara generated another mass effect field into the blade, pouring as much kinetic focus as she could generate to push back against the conduit's energy. The blade vibrated and pushed deeper and deeper, causing the conduit's glow to change subtly from red to white. The increased, restrained momentum focused through the sword caused Sara's arms to quake, and for the inner workings of the Architect's legs were shook and pummeled to pieces as rising bursts of biotic fields pulsed out with rising force.

"C'mon...come on you son of a—,"

The Architect's leg finally gave with a powerful explosion that all but devastated the critical appendage—which threw Sara clear in a cloud of fire and smoke. She held onto the sword, but hit the ground hard, and tumbled head over heels across, down, and somehow up for a minute, through the sand. At least it put the fires out across her armor—though she feared for her eyebrows.

"Oh...sweet mother of..." Sara sat up to pull half of her body out of the sand—literally buried in the ground somehow. "I don't want to do that again..." She felt like she took a punch to the gut, and the head, and ribs—pretty much just one really big punch across her body. When she tried to stand, her legs suddenly went numb for the first second or two, but managed to catch herself. Part of her wondered, if only for a moment, if she might throw up. Her stomach and head really did not like that impact—and the fact her right eye never blurred always made it harder to fight disorientation when the other one did. "SAM, status?"

 _'Cora's team has joined up with Drack, and is pushing towards the final conduit—but the Architect is about to move. Also, there is a shuttle inbound.'_

"A what?" The soaring scream of a speeding shuttle flew high above Sara's head, hooking around to get behind the Architect. "SAM, who's flying that shuttle?"

 _'Liam Kosta.'_

"Son of a—,"

The shuttle was aimed straight for the final, opened conduits on the Architect's back leg—confirming Sara's fears of what Liam was planning. Shuttles, much like the Nomad, were not equipped with weaponry. Unlike the Nomad, they were much easier to crash. This vacation just became a lot more stressful.

* * *

" _Are you sure this is a good idea?" Peebee asked._

" _Not really, but it's all I've got," Sara replied._

 _The recording cut away, focusing back when the Pathfinder was covered in a dense biotic field that rolled tightly around her._

" _Oh, this is gonna be—,"_

" _PEEBEE, JUST DO IT!"_

 _She placed her hand on Sara's shoulder, and charged a second biotic field on top of the human Pathfinder's—adding another layer of restrained, glowing power. Her arm was covered in the same energy that was constantly being pushed and fed back into Ryder, until the flickering energy ebbed into a controlled, repressed state all around. With a shout, Peebee threw her arm upward—sending the Pathfinder blasting off into the air like a rocket, with such force that the asari rogue was hurled back, kicking up a cloud of sand as well._

"Oh my god!"

"Wait, it gets better!" Peebee exclaimed, urging Suvi to keep watching her video—or Poc's rather.

 _Poc turned skyward, just in time to catch a massive biotic explosion as the Pathfinder slammed into the Architect's head—and streaked even higher than the behemoth's arched back posture. The biotic comet eventually died out, but a small dot in the sky could be seen making its plummet back down out of the air. There was a brief, but noticeable glimmer of light as the Pathfinder came back down on the Architect's head again—reared back, and then brought straight down into the ground with an almost equally destructive Nova right on its power core._

"Oh my...god!"

"I know, I helped do that!"

Sara rolled her eyes as she looked across the room as Peebee rewound Poc's recording of Ryder's...rather dramatic response to bring the hammer down on the Architect to Suvi. The hammer...being her. Lexi wasn't happy.

"OW!" There was a forceful tear as Lexi pulled out a new length of medical tape, still glaring with her eyes squinted, filled with silent accusations she wanted to fling. She definitely wasn't being as delicate as she could have been. "Okay, you haven't yelled at Liam yet so...please stop scolding me in your head."

"Liam is stuck on the Tempest as punishment." That and it was the best place for him to nurse his broken leg after he bailed out of the shuttle—that he did in fact crash into the Architect's final leg. Kind of ironic, all things considered. A leg for a leg. Sara, despite nearly pulverizing her arm, was left to try out Prodromos' new and improved medical facilities with none other than Lexi T'Perro, of course. "Two of you— _two_ had rocket launchers. No, you had to work with Peebee to turn yourself into a human cannonball."

"I'd really say it was more like...a missile." Lexi's nostrils flared dangerously. If she were Aneria, and by extension if she had biotics, Sara would probably have gotten a kinetic flick to the head. There was still part of her that worried Lexi would hit her anyway. It probably wouldn't help to mention that Sara didn't know that A, Drack had one Cobra Missile left, and that B, Cora had any at all. "Hey, I totally had it under control."

There was a pause. Lexi looked down as she wrapped Sara's last bruised, broken finger on the hand she used to collide with the Architect's face...twice, if the Nova drop counted. It didn't take a genius to guess what the good doctor was thinking to herself.

"You know it's bad to keep things inside," Sara teased. Lexi pursed her lips, but remained stoic as she grabbed the roll of tape again. There was half a mind somewhere in that blue head of hers that wanted to tape Ryder's mouth shut—she just knew it. "I'm sorry I had to save Liam because he was stupid and reckless and bored."

"And what do you call this?"

Sara looked down at her right arm that was just one big, numb, miscolored bruise that covered her limb. It hurt just to look at, which is probably why Sara was sitting away from anybody else that needed medical attention. Though Sara and Liam were the worst of it, of course. Everyone else only got scuffs and a few bruises.

"Well, for starters, I wasn't bored. And, again, I'm not the idiot that ran off with a shuttle."

"You're just the idiot that tried to overload yourself on a biotic frequency that could have ripped you apart."

She bit back a dry remark about the irony of being lectured by someone who didn't have biotics—or a SAM...but then Lexi would either ask her or SAM what the chances of success were. And SAM couldn't lie and say they had good, or even fairly decent chances. But without him, yeah, Sara would have definitely never tried something as dangerous. Though the Architect couldn't be destroyed, SAM learned a neat trick during their fight of how to 'override' it.

Sara looked back in Peebee and Suvi's direction, noticing that Drack and Jaal had joined them at some point to watch the recorded footage. In hindsight, the fact that the incident was recorded and continuously played on the other side of the same room didn't help Lexi's general mood. Though what had Sara worried was the krogan that hadn't stopped smiling since their joint discovery about Ryder herself, and a crush she may have been growing for a certain ginger-haired Scot.

"You're not invincible," Lexi continued. "Even with your powers, even with SAM, you still have limitations. I can't stress that enough when you try playing chicken with those...what are they?"

"Fiends?"

"Whatever the big ones are—yes. This is just...Sara, this could have been a lot worse in a lot of different ways."

"I know."

"Not just for you, but for—where are you looking?"

Shit. "What?" She looked back at her friend quickly, but was met with narrowed eyes, lined with trace amounts of furious questioning. Ignoring Lexi was one thing, but ignoring her when she was rightfully lecturing you was something else entirely.

Lexi turned around to the sight the Pathfinder was so interested in, then looked back at her with that scrutinizing look of hers. "Living through it wasn't enough?"

"Poc got a really good shot of it," she lied quickly. Lexi's eyes narrowed even more. "You were saying something about my recklessness?"

There was a pause.

"What is it?"

"What is what?"

"Sara Ryder, do not make me raise my voice."

"Okay, you're _really_ making it hard not to use the 'M' word around you."

Another pause as Lexi kept her eyes fixed on Sara—both of their minds working relentlessly to solve a mystery, and to continue keeping up the mystery respectively. The 'M' word was a bit of a low blow, but Lexi knew better than to engage Sara when she was being dodgey.

"Is it Suvi?" she guessed. Sara immediately thought back to when Lexi walked in on their little moment in the med bay, and cursed her dreadful luck. Sometimes having your friend as your counselor could get frustrating. Unlike Drack however, Lexi took Sara's prolonged silent acknowledgment stoically, rather than trying to think of clever ways to use that information in humiliating, joking ways. The Pathfinder ducked her head some, but she could feel the blush in her cheeks betraying her as soon as Lexi guessed. The good doctor's frustration ebbed for a moment, replaced by her professional concern for Ryder. "Is it serious?"

"N-no." She didn't think it was.

 _It never will be._

"This is the second time now I've seen you get...jumpy regarding her."

Jumpy was a kind word for Sara's evasive nature, and the reasons for it. Although the first incident was more reflexive than intentional when Lexi walked in. "It's...sort of a recent find for me."

"How recent?" she asked gently.

"Right before the Architect. Um...Drack knows." The last part she did _not_ admit proudly. It was his fault she even thought about it to begin with. Though if it wasn't her, it would have probably been Lexi sooner or later.

"You? Getting along with a grumpy old man?"

"He's cynical and funny, like me."

"Cynical maybe..." Sara wrinkled her nose with a snide look on her face to response before lightly kicking Lexi's leg—though they both smiled. "How is that processing with you?"

"I don't know," she admitted. The old scars over her right shoulder flared up.

 _You...will always be MY broken little—_

Sara reached across and smacked her collar hard to shut that harpy's voice up. She almost regretted the decision when Lexi's eyes snapped up to her quickly with a much different, more worried look of concern. It wasn't about her arm, but instead about the past she wished she could forget. The scars in question were just two sharp slashes that ended just below her collar and reached past the curve of her shoulder. They were newer, but still much less dramatic, than the scar on her face, but they carried more weight when that voice acted up. She was embarrassed, sometimes still ashamed, of that tic she developed, but it was about the only the thing that could snap herself awake from the chilling whisper of the dead.

"Has...she been coming back?"

"No," Sara said quickly. "Just...comes and goes." Lexi didn't pry any deeper than that, either being cautious or considerate. Ryder was grateful regardless of her reasons.

They sat in silence as Lexi finished setting Ryder's hand properly, then wrapping up her whole arm up before encasing it in a solid cast. That was going to be fun to wear for the entirety of a day. Maybe two if SAM was losing his touch. Sara looked at her arm, still feeling the guilt over the one set of scars she had on the same side as every other bit of damage she wore. The doctor's job was done, but she still didn't move from her chair. The Pathfinder refused for the first few minutes, but Sara eventually relented and looked back up at Lexi for whatever inspiring wisdom she was going to share.

"I know you're trying to just keep yourself as empty headed as possible," she said to the Pathfinder. It was easy to note the disappointment in her voice. Lexi didn't like going with the plan of, 'dive into work, confront potential emotional trauma later,' but given their circumstances she went along with it. Sara felt after her slight outburst that they might be skating on thin ice with that excuse. "It can be easy to forget things...just remember that I'm here for you, Sara, if you need to talk."

Now she felt guilty for being cynical towards her rather outstanding friend that she gave nothing but grief. It was easy to forget about people close to when keeping everyone else at arm's length. "I promise, she's just...there sometimes. Not often enough that it's a problem." Just enough to remind Sara of her marks, her past, and failures. "I haven't had to...do that in awhile if that's what you're wondering." The smack was almost as much a shock for Sara as it was for Lexi—who nearly got one of her hands slapped in the crossfire. Slapping those scars was about as reflexive as her natural 'jumpy' habits.

Lexi offered a gentle nod, seemingly taking the Pathfinder at her word. Sara always wondered how Lexi could navigate through the field of personal friendship and professional therapist with her so well. The part of her that knew Sara's past, the personal part, had every right and reason to be worried and push her friend into going to the doctor and pouring out her thoughts and feelings and be done with it. But then the doctor had to worry about the patient's needs, and either way Lexi's ethics wouldn't let her exploit one resource for another. Just thinking about it nearly drove Sara up a wall, and she was technically the one benefiting from their relationship. Aneria always claimed that Lexi gifted for her 'young,' age with her innate talents in the medical and psychological fields. She was technically less than three-hundred years old, and although Lexi would never admit it, Sara suspected that Aneria's praise of her talents in youth is why her medical officer refuses to tolerate the 'M' word. There was some comfort in meeting an asari that did not look forward to getting old, since it typically was a very predominant human trait.

"For whatever it's worth," Lexi began, turning away from Sara to tidy her station up, "I'm glad you don't have a crush on Peebee." They both smiled at each other, their personal friendship shining through. Sara was no stranger to whispers around the ship, and it wasn't like she didn't see where the basis for those rumors came from. Not that Peebee wasn't cute, and sassy, and fun, but Lexi knew that Sara understood one of herself was enough. When she had everything squared away, Lexi turned back to Ryder, with that honest mixture of personal and professional concern. "Come see me when you have the time. Or whenever you need."

"I will," she said, honestly. Ryder knew she could always count on Lexi, regardless of her old master's recommendations. She had the life and the marks to prove her friend's loyalty.

"I'll go report in to Bradley, let him know that you all are going to be fine. He's been worried that his people are the ones who get the Pathfinder killed."

"Oh, they're gonna have to try a lot harder with you on the clock." She got Lexi to laugh at that one. It was a bit of a dark joke, but it was theirs to share, and regardless there was comfort in that.

After Lexi left, Sara took a moment to give her dwelling, darker thoughts one last shove before picking up her jacket that laid next to her. The scar on her shoulder started to itch, but she ignored its call to her. Sara wanted to slap it again, but opted to just toss her jacket over her shoulders instead and focused on trying what she could to ignore her thoughts.

"Pathfinder?" Suvi softly said.

That'd do the trick.

Sara turned around to see the nervous Scot smiling at her—though not without a quick glance to her arm. "H-hey," she said back.

"I just...are you alright?"

"Yeah—just breaking my arm again." There was a cross between relief and concern on Suvi's face as she shook her head with an amused smile. That couldn't have been the only thing she was checking on though, even if her arm was much worse than when that gunk from Havarl stuck to her arm. The pause that grew longer between them only seemed to confirm that—just as they both tried to say something at the same time, only to end up stalling together.

"You were...I mean, what you did...how did you even do that?"

The obvious question stunned her for a second, but she felt an anxious weight lifted from her chest. "I uh...it's sort of a long explanation," she said, to the girl that sent her a sixty page essay on dirt. That Sara may or may not have unmarked from the spam folder.

"I've just—I've never seen biotics like that before. I mean, I've always heard stories but you...you flattened that thing!" Sara tried, and failed, not to smile at the sweet sounding praise. And the look on Suvi's face told the Pathfinder that her science officer wanted to know—no matter how long the explanation was.

"Okay, so...what I did, humans technically aren't supposed to do. The simple explanation is I generate a biotic charge, increase the...I guess you'd call it frequency of the mass effect field. Peebee charges a second one, and feeds that excess energy into me. Sort of like a super charged battery...with explosive tendencies. Anyway, the result you want to aim for when trying this is to get two separate mass effect fields to essentially vibrate at the same frequency before letting go."

She looked concerned again, but with that unyielding glint of curiosity in her eye as Suvi started tearing through the easy explanation in her mind. Sara just waited patiently as some kind of realization dawned on the science officer. "That sounds...difficult."

"Yeah..." She could sense more coming.

"What would have happened if if something...messed up?" she asked hesitantly, though Sara had a feeling Suvi's best guess was probably pretty close to the reality.

"I...would have probably been shredded down to my base molecules?" Then there was nothing but alarm and concern—which of course the Pathfinder only laughed at. Lexi already knew the dangers of a biotic talent that of course even the asari didn't like to attempt, and rightfully lectured Ryder for it. If it wasn't for Liam, who was surrounded by other Remnant with the Architect right above his head, Sara probably wouldn't have considered something so dangerous. Probably. She wasn't even sure if she could hit the massive thing with a biotic Charge—let alone successfully uppercut the damn thing. The cataclysmic Nova that followed was more of her own momentum falling out of the air than anything else.

"You...don't do that!"

Sara tried not to blush at the concern spared for her, offering a smile, "I'll try to break Liam's leg in advance next time I encounter an Architect."

"Oh shite—you don't think there are more, do you?" They both waited in silence, with Sara not wanting to verbalize how her streak of luck seemed to be going as of late. A moment later, it dawned on Suvi as well as she gently bit down on her lower lip. "Probably, right?"

"I think it's a pretty safe bet, yeah."

Suvi gave a small giggle as her eyes dropped slightly and...focused on something. Then her brow twitched a little at whatever had snagged her attention. Sara carefully followed the curious officer's stare to her chest—more specifically the three rose tattoos she had marked over her left side, partially obscured by the jacket that hung openly from her shoulders. She smiled and looked back up at Suvi, who was still lost in trying to make out what her ink exactly was. In her defense, Sara couldn't remember many other times she wore a sports top around the others. Namely for the marks on her other side that she didn't want to talk about.

Finally, Suvi broke her stare after what was only about five actual second—meeting the Pathfinder's entertained smile and blush with a heavier shade of red that flooded her cheeks, and both hands covering her mouth in embarrassment. Despite her own flustered thoughts, Sara took it in stride as she grinned wider, "Would you like to ask me something, Dr. Anwar?"

"What're your tattoos of please?" she asked quickly, putting her hands back over her mouth just as fast.

Sara tried to resist the call of being a smart-ass, but she couldn't help it that Suvi's eyes were even brighter than normal with the blush on her face. "Next time, you can just buy me a drink if you want," she teased."

"Oh my god," Suvi muttered, dropping her face into her hands with guilt. Sara just laughed as she reached out to touch the other girl's arm—without really thinking about it. There was brief spike of dread that shot through her, and was quickly quelled with a hesitant peak from the officer's gloved hands that was accompanied with an adorable, guilty smile.

"So this first one," Sara began, moving her jacket out of the way before pulling the strap of her top over to better show her flowers, "is for mom." She moved to the next one below her mother's, "This is for Aneria—my teacher. And the last one," couldn't be shown fully, due to reasons of modesty, but was placed lowest, and directly over her heart, "is for someone who saved my life."

Suvi's eyes snapped up quickly when Ryder looked at her, prompting another amused smile from the Pathfinder as the officer kept her cheeks covered by her hands in a ridiculously adorable expression. "Saved your life?"

"Well...I got stabbed in the chest." Her eyes widened and hands dropped away. It was amazing to see how quickly Suvi went from shameful embarrassment to an expression of pure 'what?' Sara felt the blush creep back as those wonderful, inquisitive blue eyes just kept boring into her. Unfortunately, that was yet another story Sara did not want to share in great detail. "Got stabbed, just barely missed anything important, underwent surgery, got an itty bitty scar that I covered with the tattoo. Which, I actually got this one first," she admitted, tapping her finger against the lowest flower—but by no means any less meaningful. A permanent reminder of a lasting friendship. And the only one that wasn't in memory of someone lost.

"I...you're just full of stories, aren't you?"

"Most of them are about me nearly dying, but yeah," Sara teased. The truth did sting a bit.

"Well don't go dying on us," Suvi said, reaching out to firmly grip the Pathfinder's good arm. Ryder felt her heart skip a beat before she saw a familiar look in the ginger-haired officer's eyes that she wanted to ignore. The moment was over as quickly as it started, Suvi still smiling as she pulled her hand away. But Sara could still feel her firm, gentle grip, and her heart was pounding like a drum as a result. "Your tattoos are beautiful," she continued, as a glow of crimson started to make its way back to her cheeks. "I promise I wasn't staring at...I-I mean, I was staring, but not at..." Sara just grinned, blushing along with the poor girl who shook her head. "Your tattoos are lovely," she repeated with a delightful smile—leaving it at just that.

"I'll try not to charge anymore Architects anytime soon," Sara said, unsure of whether or not she could keep that promise. Truthfully, it wasn't something she wanted to do or try again anytime soon. And there wasn't much she could offer Suvi, other than that hopeful promise.

"Next time I'll try shooting Liam in the leg before he gets you in trouble."

Sara burst out laughing at the idea—and the scene that popped into her head with it. "Oh, please do! I want to see if Lexi gets mad at anybody besides me." Suvi started giggling with the Pathfinder at the expense of their crew mate's personal injury. Sara wasn't sure if it hurt more to laugh, or to enjoy her time with the brilliant scholar. Hell, Sara even enjoyed her time with Drack and Peebee on the so-called vacation. She could probably get use to that smile of Suvi's for sure.

"Okay, I should probably get back to work. I was assisting the science and geological research teams before it was all hands on deck."

"Lots of neat rocks on the planet, are there?"

"As a matter of fact!" She was starting to roll with the punches...or she was just genuinely excited by rocks. Sara wasn't sure which was better. "They've made a number of fascinating discoveries—and they're going to let me keep one of their rocks."

Yeah, she was rolling with it. "I will leave you to your adventures, Dr. Anwar."

She turned her head back to Ryder with that smile of hers. "Suvi," she corrected.

Sara felt her smile brighten just a touch, "Suvi, then."

She nodded, smiling with a wave before heading for the door. Sara felt the weight in her chest return at the other girl's departure, mentally kicking herself for it. Her crush only seemed to get worse after it was pointed out to her. She told herself to save her thoughts for later—after catching the watchful eye of Nakmor Drack beaming at her. Fucking old man...

* * *

 **Ohhhhh this chapter was so fun to write xDD Been awhile since I've updated so quickly too.**

 **Okay, so, I know the whole 'punching an Architect' thing is...probably a little overdone/made up fantasy BS on my end, but, I have story for it. So, playing Andromeda, first encounter of an Architect on Eos, I decide, "Imma see if I can Charge that thing," thinking, "there's no way in hell Mass Effect would let me fly up in that thing's face-you can't even vault over cover properly until ME2." Then, I hit the button, next thing I know, I'm rearing back, and suddenly saying, "NONONONONO WAIT I'M NOT READY!" Then I'm flying skyward to just punch it in the face. It wasn't anything quite so dramatic, but nonetheless filled with, "Ohshitohshitohshit!" and excitement. I also did not Nova its face, but I did Nova some robo-scrubs on the ground. So yeah, I kinda got a little carried away with the uh...mechanics of biotics in this story.**

 **Also, good news bad news; I've started working on the next chapter is the good news, and sort of have a decent outline for future chapters going forward. It's just turning notes and ideas into...*waves his hands at all the crap above the bolded font* is the process. The BAD news is I don't plan on doing the, "I like your accent," scene, and here's why. I literally don't see how I can make it any better, and I'm still wanting to do more original scenes that focus more on character development. That being said, it will DEFINITELY be talked about however. Just not seen within this story. HOWEVER, if you do want to see Sara fumbling with her admitting her fondness of Suvi's accent IN GAME, I have a video of it on my Youtube channel (link found on my profile). Go watch Tempest Family (Humor) for it and...well, more Andromeda moments.**

 **If you're reading this, thank you as always for getting this far and taking the time to give my fluffy writing a chance! Feel free to leave reviews on this story as it helps feed my writing addictions! Until then, all of you just go...pathfind. AND HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!**


	5. Chapter 5: Time to Pathfind

**Oh my god, my Doc Manager was empty...**

 **Oh, also I lied to you guys. Based on the title of this chapter, yeah, I found a way to write in our favorite confession into the story. I hope you all enjoy it, and the best way to show your thanks is to go out and vote. Until then, ENJOY~!**

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"I would kill for another vacation," Sara groaned.

"Your last one nearly did kill you," Lexi pointed out. Sara mouthed a silent, but truly scathing and witty rebuttal. Lexi returned an amused smirk at the inspiring amount of effort the Pathfinder put into her sassy comeback. "Liam and Vetra really took it out of you, didn't they?"

"Our highlights were shooting at pirates. Seriously, it was...ugh." That was the last time Sara decided to do Liam a favor so he could 'stretch his legs.' He had just healed up from his previous outing on Eos, but Sara should have known better than to try and be the cool boss for someone as reckless as she was. She stayed out of Liam's less than subtle ploys to draw Vetra into a conversation—or argument—as was Liam's way. Regretfully, he had to open his mouth on a matter that both Sara and Vetra were vastly more experienced in; being a big sister. Liam was very much not in favored company after he ran his mouth about Vetra's choices concerning Sid. "Thankfully, they're both really good at shooting things."

"No doubt earnest too." They were definitely that after they were done shouting at each other. And it wasn't helpful that Liam would go off to pout—or 'flank' as he tried to excuse—on his own. Sara's ability to move across the battlefield in a second was helpful in watching Kosta's back when he refused to in some macho attempt to prove a point. By the time they returned to Kadara Port, everyone immediately split apart. It was Sara's scarce luck that Lexi happened to have her office open and available when she returned to the Tempest. "So you feel Liam spoke out of turn?"

"Is that really as surprising as you're trying to make it sound?" Lexi shrugged with a gentle and patient smile on her face. The doctor could never assume to know what the friend knew. Vetra was practically sister—if not 'mother,' of the year with how she watched out for Sid. Accusing her of being anything less than a worried, protect, and overall caring sister—you might as well try to punch Vetra in the face. Key word being, 'try.' "Liam doesn't know what it's like to have a sibling. Yeah, he's good at making friends and getting people to smile, but he doesn't know shit in the way of being a big sister. If Vetra started throwing presumptuous bullshit at Liam based on her personal experience of being a human, I'd make sure to correct her too." Angrily, depending on Vetra's level of self-righteousness on the subject. It wasn't like Sara went around trying to tell Lexi, Peebee, or Cora about the 'correct' way to behave like an asari—despite her personal frame of reference on the matter. Liam's background with growing up and taking care of a younger sibling? Zero.

"So just a difference of opinions?"

"Vetra's first and primary concern is always going to be her sister," Sara said. There was no doubt of that—not for anybody that knew her. It was insulting to assume otherwise—and it didn't help that Liam was being _directly_ insulting about it. Maybe Sara took it a bit personally herself, as a big sister herself with a brother in the hospital in a deep coma. She knew Liam wouldn't say a damn thing about her family though, so why pop his mouth off about Vetra's? Just because she made a few mistakes in her life and had problems to run away from? Like she was the only one jumping onto an Ark to get the hell out of dodge back home. Vetra's mistakes, her methods, her experience—it was all by necessity, to protect Sid. To keep her safe, alive, and somehow away from all the despicable horrors that lied just beneath the surface of the 'civilized and settled' Milky Way society. It wasn't like Vetra willing chose to fall into those seedier elements because she wanted to.

Sara's lip twitched as she forcibly repressed her own past memories from erupting. Kadara was already a trying practice of keeping herself from losing her shit without her own crew fighting each other. She understood the mistrust and resentment towards the Nexus—she had a fair bit of doubt in some of the leadership and choices made herself, but people like Sloane were just murderous killers. Sure, her methods worked, and she had good reason to break away from the Nexus at the time to try and build something for themselves. Hell—she even succeeded at it. But all she was trying for now was to be a petty despot that bullies and rules through terror and subjugation. It didn't help that Ryder pulled a gun on Sloane during their first meeting, but she wasn't about to trust her safety and life to another power hungry bitch with a grudge. It was frustrating that everything seemed to come back to that controlling psychopath. But that was Sara's own mistake.

The two cuts on her right shoulder started to itch, but she ignored it. That wasn't what was frustrating her at the moment—only what she was fighting. Sloane was just a very vivid reminder of Retas.

"As much grief as we give him, I think Liam will realize he may have overstepped," Lexi offered. "Whether or not he'll swallow his pride and apologize for it is another story. Although I did tell you not to take him."

"Yeah, but you told me to stop taking Drack everywhere because he's old," Sara teased. Lexi's nostrils twitched slightly as she repressed the urge to switch to friend mode. She could complain, but she had yet to fully slip when having her professional coat on.

"I just said his prosthetics have had some trouble syncing properly since he jumped out of the Nomad back on Eos, and that I would _prefer_ if you would give him a break."

A 0.3 second lag to be exact. Truly a medical anomaly that needed immediate attention, but Sara kept the thought strictly to herself. "It wasn't even his swinging arm," Sara said, repeating Drack's words to her when they had talked about it. Lexi's stare told Sara that Drack had told her the exact same thing. The irony being that Drack and Sara were arguably the ones on the ship who needed Lexi around the most, for one reason or another, but several common reasons overall. "You were the one telling me to talk to the crew more."

"Hm." There was some hardcore professionalism. It'd be a cold day in hell when Sara finally cracked through that guard in one of their sessions. The only time the friend took over when the doctor should be in charge was any time Sara stupidly risked her life and needed a lecture. Thankfully it was only Liam doing that most recently—with two older sisters watching his back no less. Good thing he was never in any real danger as long as Vetra decided not shoot at him. "Was Liam the only thing upsetting you?"

"Are you asking about the room full of guns pointed at me? Because one was actually aimed squarely at Sloane's forehead." That did nothing to put Lexi at ease. Sara definitely wasn't at ease in that moment walking into the wannabe kingpin's office. Sloane's posture, her attitude, her arrogance—all of it seemed like it was lifted right off of Omega's filthy surface. Same shit, different smell. Probably not the best move to make for the Initiative, having the Pathfinder walk into a den of thieves and murderers only to lose her shit in a flashback. "I know, not the safest way to approach it."

"You could have handled it better," Lexi admitted. "But you handled it well. Seeing how last time you tried shooting your way out of a room full of gangsters went so well."

"Ouch." Doctors could do no harm. Friends were another story. Or maybe that was just her way of starting to peel off the bandages of that particular stab wound. It wasn't like there was any disguising it after the day Sara had, and she had been ignoring a _LOT_ of feelings lately. And there really was no reason for Sara to beat around the bush with Lexi on her past. Not in this space with just her and Lexi. And she knew sooner or later that one of them was going to have to start forcing Sara to share her feelings, new and old. "I managed to hit the pause button on myself this time. It was...tense, but, ya know, safety first."

"Which I'm extremely grateful for." Sara had a hard time reading between Lexi's sarcasm and her sincerity. Maybe she oversold the danger of a 'room full of guns,' to her doctor?

"Grace under pressure," Sara teased with a knowing smirk. Lexi groaned and rolled her eyes at one of Matriarch Aneria's more favored sayings. Neither of them were very graceful under pressure, not by the matriarch's superior standards, though between the two of them Lexi held the reigning championship.

"I'm not sure if I would take it that far." Sara laughed a bit, more than willing to give her that one. "So, let's talk about some other members of the crew." There was the trap of an hour long session when you so openly expressed yourself to your therapist; tackling topics you didn't spend three and a half hours preparing in your head prior. Sara's fault is knowing Lexi as a friend before being her doctor on the ship during the most crucial trials of her entire life. Ryder knew what was coming next. "Every relationship is important." Yep, there it was. And there was only one particular 'relationship' onboard the ship that was continuously weighing on her mind more than the rest.

"Is this where you ask who's my favorite on the ship?" Sara questioned jokingly.

"Me, obviously."

She had to laugh at how quickly Lexi's response was. "Fair." Sara cleared her throat as the weight of the topic started to fill the room. "You want to ask me about someone specific?"

"If you're ready to talk about it?"

She did, and she didn't. It was the point where she had to talk about her feelings with someone who wasn't going to give her some kind of attitude, if not shout her secret through the Tempest all the way to the bridge. Plus, what else were friends and/or doctors for anyway? "Okay, so, it started out she was pretty, and smart, and sincere, and...the accent admittedly—which I'm not proud of it."

"I'm not judging." Everybody on the ship had a hard opinion, or a smug attitude towards any sensitive information. Lexi, despite her own opinions, kept her sessions with anyone and everyone private. Everyone had made at least a few rounds in Lexi's office. Everyone except Peebee of course, who made greater efforts than the Pathfinder to avoid the med bay. Sara by several defaults was an advocate of speaking to someone during such stressful times, and was Lexi's biggest supporter. "You never told me what you two talked about that day in my office."

The irony was that Lexi would have already pieced it together after Harry likely messaged her about the incident with Scott. The only person she had talked about that issue with was Suvi. Not even Lexi. Not yet, anyway. "So...it wasn't anything serious but...I mean, it was, because I thought I had broken Scott...but I didn't, and I overreacted because I had told him the truth about what happened with dad. I thought it was supposed to be the right thing to do, and he thought...I was some kind of nightmare. Anyway, I panicked, came here to talk to you, but you were somewhere else and Suvi was here instead. I had to talk to someone and she was there, and...well, she's Suvi. I was trying to keep from just...collapsing, so I just puked out my figurative guts. She told me a funny cautionary tale that made me feel better and...I don't know. I guess I realized I liked being around her. And...realized she was _really_ cute too."

Lexi smiled at her. "How did telling the truth to Scott make you feel, after you talked to Suvi?"

Sara didn't expect that question—nor did she expect it to cut so deep. Suvi was one thing, but she genuinely hadn't put much thought into Scott's condition after the fact. SAM and Harry said he would be fine, and nobody has claimed otherwise yet. And other than remaining in a remarkably stunning coma, Scott's condition had otherwise not changed, so there wasn't too much to think about. She sniffled, but stowed her pain to an ache. "She helped me realize that Scott is gonna be okay...and when he wakes up he's going to be glad I was honest with him." Those were almost the exact words Suvi used after distracting Sara's racing mind with a fun story with a tragically hilarious ending. Thinking about how personal the story was for someone who came to Andromeda without her family, it made Sara appreciate Suvi's honesty much more. "I kind of...thought about her a few times, but I never really thought about liking anybody. Then Drack got bored and decided to grill me who I liked, and I didn't really know until Suvi radioed me about Liam and then it hit me."

"How did this revelation hit you exactly? What was it that made you realize you liked Suvi as something more?"

"Well, she sent me a giant paper about Heleus soil samples that SAM marked as spam for me. It was sixty pages long but I um...well I unmarked it because I felt guilty. I...may have read it after we talked about Scott. That's kind of an obvious sign I think." Lexi chuckled softly, unintentionally activating Sara's self conscious reflex. "I've thought about her a couple of times too. Drack posed the question, he was going through process of elimination and...fate kinda screwed me again." At least this was one of the gentler times, though the Architect was kind of pushing it.

"Did anything happened later?"

Sara thought back to when Suvi approached her on Eos to inquire and geek out like Ryder was some sort of new type of Heleus mineral sample—asking about her biotics, her tattoos, and scars, and everything else. "We talked on Prodromos after you left. She was really...interested in me it seems. Inquiries about tattoos and biotics, again. I realized I really like being around her, again. But I seriously doubt I'm anywhere near stable enough to be seriously considering a relationship with anybody."

"Why do you think that?"

It seemed fairly obvious, though in that moment it was difficult for Sara to grasp what her exact reasons for it were beyond her defensive reflex. "Because I'm scared to consider it." Lexi was almost successful at hiding her surprise in the face of Sara's honesty. Almost. She had been dodgey for awhile, even in the last few sessions that Lexi didn't allow Sara to excuse herself from. One of them had to force Sara to be honest, and it was much easier for her to do it herself. It certainly wasn't easy, but Sara reminded herself that she was safe with Lexi. "Suvi is...really sweet and...maybe not as innocent as I would have thought, but...I'm still..."

"Scared?" she asked, repeating Sara's choice of words.

 _Broken..._

Her scars started to itch when the darker voice echoed in her ears. "Yeah," she said to Lexi. It was easier to ignore the whisper than it was to acknowledge it, she told herself. Should she tell Lexi? It was just a whisper. "I keep trying to make myself feel guarded around her. Then before I know it, I'm sharing thoughts and feelings and stories with her. If I'm being honest..." Sara paused to refocus her thoughts. Lexi had the patience to let her silence her demons. "I know the past is in the past, but fate or whatever just has a habit of...well," she gestured to the scar over her right eye. "I just...I don't know how to know if I'm ready to risk something so...worrisome. There's way more at stake for everyone. For...me. And I have a track record of fucking up."

"You said it yourself that the past is the past," Lexi said. "Everyone makes mistakes, large and small. You think Drack shares every story or himself, or does he just have a hundred stories to tell because he's _literally_ ancient? I'm sure Aneria has told you several times that her wisdom came from experience, and even she wasn't perfect."

Sara smirked, "You sure about that?"

Lexi just frowned, though the corners of her mouth tugged upward ever so slightly, "Absolutely sure." Aneria never said she was perfect—she just had a habit of acting like perfection at times. She certainly didn't hesitate talking down to a child when necessary. In Sara's case, often. "And I don't mean to come off callous in regards to your...personal experiences. But it sounds like your decision making is what has you second guessing yourself."

"Huh..." Sara hadn't considered that before—focusing more on her poor choices than the results that left her with dark memories that made her scars burn and her skin crawl. Thinking about Suvi never made her skin crawl. In more cases than one, she often helped Sara reject the fleeting memories of her past that still haunted her. "So...I'm arguing with myself that I'm going to make a bad decision by talking to Suvi, because I've made bad decisions in the past?"

"Seems to be that way," Lexi admitted. Sara admitted the same to herself. If the shoe fits. "We often draw upon our past, because it's how we grow into the future. You went to Omega because of a string of choices, that all ended up leaving you...scorned." Sara tried not to scoff at the gentle word Lexi used, but it was preferable to the harsher words— _humiliated, shattered, worthless—_ running through her head. "Your mind automatically bridges the cause and effect together, I'd assume as a defense mechanism, so instead of making any move forward with Suvi, you've chosen to stand your ground. But you're sounding like that isn't quite good enough anymore..."

And like that, the knot was undone in Sara's mind. "Shit..." She both loved and hated when Lexi understood her better than she could herself. Then again, that's what friends and/or therapists were for. Sara couldn't count all the stars she wanted to thank that Lexi of all people took the assignment for Tempest medical officer. "You're too smart for your own good."

"That's kind of the reason I'm here."

"And, you know, to make sure we're in one piece. Or that Drack is in as few pieces as possible."

"All of you being in as few pieces as possible is ideal," Lexi corrected. Sara wondered to herself how much longer until she started losing pieces, rather than just collecting scars. Emotionally, she supposed, she had lost a lot of pieces. Part of her wondered how many of those pieces Drack had given up over his many years? "Trauma, any trauma, has a way of changing every part of us. Obviously you're no stranger to this, but sometimes the many ways trauma impacts us can be even more elusive to us as well. If you're unintentionally connecting your feelings for Suvi to...the last time you dared to have these feelings, then you're justifying to yourself why you're not stepping forward. Not that you don't have a convincing reason to be hesitant, of course. But you can't make any progress with Suvi if you continue to tie your feelings now to your trauma. You don't have to sprint ahead and leap off the deep end with her, but...would you say that there's a part of you that's not quite so content standing still?"

"So...I'm basically telling myself I can't stand still?" Given how every other part of her life crashed and tore ever forward, it kind of made sense that going nowhere with Suvi would be maddening. But this revelation was enough to put Sara on edge. "I don't suppose you have any advice for me?"

"I can't tell you the best approach to sharing your feelings with Suvi, no. I do understand why this situation is so confusing and intimidating for you, believe me. And with everything that's happened since we've arrived in Andromeda, it seems like you haven't stopped to ask yourself what you would like."

"I mean—,"

"Beyond peace of mind, and not having Tahn and several other people breathing down your neck."

"Well that just sounds like a fantasy world."

"And what if you could take just a bit of that fantasy world with you?" Sara groaned, mostly at herself, and partially at the only friend that deflections never worked on. "Try spending some time thinking about your approach if it worries you so much. Based on what you've told me though, I don't think there are many ways you could disappoint Suvi." And she could drive a point home. Maybe Sara wasn't mean enough to try and actually throw Lexi off balance?

 _'Ha-ha, you like a super old krogan!'_

 _'I literally had my hands in your chest trying to get your heart to start again.'_

Yeah, that wouldn't go so well. Sara wondered, dared to hope even, that maybe Lexi was right, and that Suvi wouldn't be completely repulsed by a proposal to get to know each other better? Wait, was it that easy to word? It wasn't like they could be any less professional with one another without crossing that line more officially.

"So...it opens the door, but..."

Lexi smiled, offering Sara a figurative hand, "You don't have to go blasting through it like an Architect's face." Sara's lips parted in a guilty smile, happy that they could joke about that, but was reminded of Lexi's personal frustration on the issue.

"It's still Liam's fault."

"I...it's not my place to make that judgment."

"But I can, because I'm in charge, right?" Lexi squinted as Sara's smile grew wider, and much bolder. Liam's leg had healed, and so had Sara's arm, so she was far beyond the point of truly caring. She could still ground him from several privileges, and punish him with assignments that nobody wanted. Liam would probably keep making the same mistakes without some incentive. "Kidding. He's still working that off anyway."

Lexi checked the time, "We have a few minutes left. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Not unless you literally have flashcards to help me approach this."

"Nobody can be that well prepared." Sara opened her mouth—, "Not even Aneria." Damn, she was good. "My last advice? Suvi seems to appreciate honesty. Based just on what you and I have talked about in here, she takes a shine to your stories. Even the less than glamorous ones. I know your past is fairly checkered, and there's a lot of guilt dwelling back there...but keep in mind our present is less than glamorous too. All we have left is what is around us, Sara."

A rush of emotions flooded Sara's head and chest, but it was the last part that stuck with her. "No pressure..."

"Or, you could turn it to give yourself the courage to open that first door." At least that block in Sara's mind seemed weaker than Lexi's relentlessness. "Fear can be a sign you're making the right move for yourself."

"Is it bad coming to Andromeda was easier to think about than being emotionally honest?"

"I don't think we have time to touch that one." Sara wasn't sure whether to be pained or relieved. Middle ground—move forward. "There's no rush in opening up to Suvi, just remember that." Sara nodded, trying to remember and absorb as much as she could from their session. "I'll walk you out."

* * *

Before daring to brave that tightly shut door, Sara wanted to test out her wit. Emotions had her nerves wound too tight for her to muster any sensible approach. Sure enough, Heleus' number one Remnant enthusiast, Peebee, was messing with some new type of processor recovered from robotic salvage, tinkering in the research lab. Of course, she didn't pay any attention to the world around her. More curiously was the fact that nobody else seemed to be in the literal center of people traffic on the ship. What was everyone else doing that was so important?

"Don't mess up," Sara spouted out abruptly in a rather blatant attempt to ruin the busy bee's concentration. It didn't work.

"Oh no, I fucked it all up," Peebee droned back with the flattest tone possible. Her tools found purpose again almost immediately inside the robotic device as she continued ignoring Ryder.

Sara circled around the table, head tipped to the side as she pretended to have half a mind about Peebee's work. Really, she was trying to figure out how to best throw her off. "Whatcha working on?"

"I'm working on trying to figure out how Remnant seemingly create other models from almost nothing. The working theory I've got right now is that they're somehow...liquefied and stored into these containers, then the molecular schematics for the model stored are projected out, shaped, aligned, and reformed to give it their final shape."

She gave a curious hum, taking an actual interest in Peebee's schemes now. Half the time Peebee was just treading old ground with the Remnant anyway. "So all we need is a 3D printer, and pour in some robot soup?"

"I mean...if you want to just state it like some kind of savage, then yeah, that's the jist of it." Sara flickered a small biotic field over the tool in Peebee's right hand, giving it a gentle tug out of the distracted asari's grasp. "Hey!" She finally looked up, where Sara only responded with a smirk. "Isn't there literally anybody else on this ship you can bother?"

"Yeah, speaking of, where is—,"

"Poker game with Gil," Peebee answered.

"Ah," the crew's joint, most futile effort. "So, you choose the most high-traffic, open room on the ship to conduct your little experiment, and you're judging me for—hey wait...are you trying to summon a Remnant on my ship?" Peebee froze like a deer in headlights. Sara just sighed, knowing no amount of disappointment would ever shame Peebee like she deserved. "Of course you are. You're not allowed to destroy my ship from the inside out, Peebee!"

"I wasn't trying to!"

"Poc is the only Remnant allowed on the Tempest!" Peebee huffed and growled before she dropped her tools on the table, and closed the orb-shaped device.

"You're no fun."

"I have to think about everyone's safety—including yours. Next time we go to Eos we'll find you a nice big open field to summon all the Remnant you want. But. Not. On. My. Ship."

Peebee glared, likely cursing the Pathfinder's timing, if not her luck. Sara thought about how close the tinkering was to potentially summon a robot in her ship, but decided that she really didn't want to know the truth. "You suck. I've been waiting for like, three days!"

Sara paused to think about how long they've been flying, then glared at the fuming blue girl. "We left Kadara like, yesterday!"

Peebee scowled, breaking under the truth. "So like...a day and a half?"

"Do I need to take that Remnant thing from you?"

"No!" Peebee struggled, but relented as she drooped her head down guiltily, "You should probably take my tools though..."

Sara grabbed and pulled them straight into her hand with a biotic field. "I appreciate your honesty." Peebee just growled and threw a sour look at her. "Awe, I knew you liked those robots more than me."

"I like these robots more than anyone—anybody." She flinched, and Sara noticed. Peebee knew she noticed and immediately snapped her nose down towards the Remnant device in front of her.

"Any... _one_ , huh?"

"Anybody," she corrected, as quickly as she was defensive.

"Uh huh..." Sara couldn't help but smile, delighted at this particular twist of fate in her favor. That, and having a bit of insider knowledge of Peebee's attitude and behavior helped Sara to keep the bratty renegade off balance. And the quirky asari researcher certainly knew how freakishly identical she was to the asari enthusiast. Maybe, deep down, Peebee enjoyed knowing that someone could understand her, regardless of the fact that Sara was technically her boss.

Peebee quickly snapped her head up, glaring straight into the playful, smirking Pathfinder, "Alright, listen here Nakmor Ryder, you wipe that look off your face right now! I'm sick and tired of you two getting in my head like this!"

Oh, she was done now. "So Drack knows?" Peebee tensed, giving a visible shudder as her face gave it away. Insight was a beautiful thing. Sara started to think through the crew—starting with the people it definitely couldn't be; Lexi, Cora, even Ryder herself, probably Drack as well. Gil too—he took too much of her money. Plus his own preference in partners. Maybe; Vetra, Liam, Suvi...

A coy, knowing smile started to spread across Sara's lips as that faint, deep blush started to peak out below Peebee's makeup. "Don't..." she warned.

Asari had to be telepathic. "It's Jaal, isn't it?"

Peebee's eyes exploded in fury and embarrassment as she slammed her hands on the table, grabbed the Remnant device, and turned around, storming towards the nearest door. In her fuming exit, she must of not been aware she was walking towards the tech lab.

"That's Jaal's room," Sara called out.

"FUCK!"

Peebee came storming out, shooting daggers at the grinning Pathfinder as she stormed past, and straight to the door on the exact opposite side of the room, disappearing behind the doors of the bio-lab. Sara took a moment, enjoying the time to delight in the cruelty she inflicted on poor Peebee. She was feeling far more confident forcing herself to approach the bridge. One way or another, she couldn't avoid the work place.

Standing still wasn't an option. Sara would go crazy sitting in place for much longer—especially if she had to be around the smart, thoughtful, gorgeous Scottish science officer that sat on the bridge of the ship.

 _Don't think about that. Remember how pissed off you made Peebee._

Sara smiled to herself before turning around, and heading straight for the head of the ship...

* * *

"The swelling has gone down significantly," Suvi answered in regards to her recovery, "and I seem to be able to talk normally again."

 _'Good. Keep me updated. And remember, cool food and liquid only. Nothing spicy.'_

"Thank you, Lexi." It wasn't like there was an abundance of spicy food available in Heleus anyway. Though after it was brought up, Suvi started to feel a craving—which was quickly shut down by the reminder of the explosive burning of her engorged tongue and searing throat. That experience she did NOT want to repeat, or feel anything similar to it any time soon. Damn her absentmindedness.

"Lexi and her rules, huh?"

Suvi felt her heart backflip in her chest when she heard that familiar, humorous tone suddenly behind her. She turned to see the Pathfinder standing next to her, arms crossed in her jacket, and that delightful smile on her face. Seeing Ryder did nothing to calm the heavy thumping that the Pathfinder's voice started.

"Hey, I respect Lexi and her rules!" she fired back, returning the smile with a flustered blush to her cheeks. "She takes care of us. Without her, I might still be wheezing and trying not to choke on my fat tongue."

Sara's smile dropped, brow knitted together, eyes squinted curiously—before the smile started to creep its way back to her face. Shite, she said too much.

"I'm sensing a story."

Suvi mentally hissed at her babbling self, feeling the blush getting brighter before she looked back at her console—as if something there required her attention. "Have you ever heard of the lick test?"

"No! But I'd _love_ to hear about it!" She couldn't help but smile as she could hear the effort in Sara's voice not to make some clever little joke. Unlike Suvi, there was no effort in trying to hide her smile however.

"Back before scanners were portable, earth scientists would employ this test in the field." She looked away from her console and back up at the Pathfinder. Sara's smile was doing Suvi's racing heart no favors. "They used it to tell rocks from fossils, and get a basic idea of their mineral composition." Ryder had to bring her gloved hand up to her lips to suppress her amusement, though her emerald eyes were practically glittering with delight. Suvi pressed her lips together in a firm line, trying her best to show frustration at the _frustratingly_ adorable woman. "What?"

"You licked a rock, didn't you?" she asked, making an admirable effort not to break down into a fit of giggles.

Suvi dropped her head with a dejected sigh, before pulling herself back up. Damn her absentmindedness! Curse Sara's playful nature even more. "I was distracted, and forgot it was a Heleus rock. I do it unconsciously."

"Was it the one from Prodromos?"

 _NO!_

She sighed again, her fluttering heart sinking a bit, "Yes..."

Ryder started giggling shamelessly, mouth still covered by her knuckles, though the corners of her lips still pulled past the edges of her gloves. Suvi was just glad the Pathfinder was on Kadara when it happened, and that nobody besides Lexi saw her swollen face. There would be no end to the teasing if anybody had seen her in such a state. God, it was embarrassing just to consider.

Sara eventually stopped her giggling and lowered her hand back onto the opposite arm, beaming a bright, beautiful smile down at Suvi. "Sorry, just...I guess those rocks were exciting?"

"Ha-ha," she quipped back, dryly. Suvi being teased again for her love of geographical sciences, and the completely new mineral compositions discovered in Heleus. How original. "When I was little, my father and I would go on 'expeditions.' The lick test was a huge part of it." She smiled when thinking back on those early memories—little Suvi and her father going on long hikes with her brothers, jotting down notes, taking samples, observing nature and wildlife all across the Earth. "He made science fun for me." Then the grief started to edge its way into her otherwise fond memories. Leaving her family was the hardest choice of her life, one she still found herself regretting more than she cared to admit. "Your mother was something of a scientist, wasn't she?" she asked the Pathfinder, in desperate need of a distraction. When she looked back at Sara, she immediately regretted bringing up that topic to her. Sara's smile wavered, and her gentle, glimmering eyes hardened over—reminding Suvi quickly of what had happened to Ryder's mother before coming to Andromeda.

 _Shite! You blithering dolt!_

"Sh-she was," Sara finally said, before the silence between them grew. She dropped her head, averting her gaze from Suvi's, which only made the science officer feel worse. Ryder swallowed nervously before shifting her gaze back to Suvi. "She started out in medicine, then eventually specialized in biotic studies because..." Sara trailed her sentence, but gave a lazy, uninspired flourish to herself. "Well, that and biotics being a breakthrough science for humans at the time was kind of a big reason too."

Why couldn't her foot fit into her mouth? Sara offered a smile, but it was hardly as dazzling as before. "I'm sorry," she offered as sympathetically as she possibly could. What else could she say? Nothing that could undo a reminder about Ryder's dearly departed mother. "I hope it helps to know that...what she and your father achieved with SAM is truly astounding. A-and some of the papers she wrote about human biotics are...w-well, her breakthroughs laid the foundation of our understanding of the subject."

A curious look was sparked as Sara tilted her head slightly to the side. "You've read my mom's papers?"

 _Shite!_

"A-a few of them." A tiny bit of her light came back to her smile, and to her eyes. Suvi immediately felt some relief, though she couldn't shake the guilt clutching her.

"Thank you," Sara finally said, softly, and sincerely. She half-expected a silly or inappropriate joke, though she was more than happy to accept thanks after narrowly navigating through that storm. "It's difficult to talk about her sometimes. We all took her passing hard."

"I'm...I didn't mean to—,"

The Pathfinder waved her hand about dismissively, "I'm fine. Working it out. Please don't feel bad about bringing her up."

"Okay..." she offered, still feeling as small as possible. How could she not feel bad—or at least guilty? Suvi didn't want that to be the note their conversation closed on. She reached for a new topic, though the only thing that came to mind for her were her own parents. Then her sisters, and brothers. All the family she left behind. Suvi had made a choice. Sara didn't have that option. "I..." She hesitated to continue, but the silence was going to get to her either way. "I left my parents back home. They told me they were proud of me...and then lived our their lives while I slept."

There was no hiding that Suvi regretted her decision when she thought about her past—something that many others in the Initiative probably shared too. It just sounded so pathetic to admit that out loud, and to someone who lost both of their parents to uncontrollable circumstances. But Sara was left hanging out on a limb thanks to Suvi's chattering mouth.

"If you think that means you're alone, you're wrong," Sara said. Suvi felt her heart skip a beat before she turned her head to the Pathfinder's gentle smile beaming down at her. Damn her for saying what she was thinking. Not for being so wonderful though. Not for her bravery and strength.

Suvi smiled, keeping her eyes locked with Sara's, "Thank you. You saying that means the world to me." The Pathfinder's smile widened. Without a doubt, Ryder was one of Suvi's favorites among the crew, and easily one of the most extraordinary people she had every met between two different galaxies. "I'll take comfort in the people I've met here. And if you ever need me, I'm here for you too."

The light returned to Sara's face, her smile all the brighter, before she turned her head away, keeping her tattooed side facing Suvi. It wasn't long before she turned back, nodding her head. "I know. And I'm...I'm glad you're here."

"I'm glad you're here too." There was a noticeable change in shade on Sara's cheeks now, though a small bow of her head and her bangs covered most of that. Even more insufferable, it concealed those enchanting emeralds that Suvi was growing fond of.

Her console beeped with a notification—a message from Kallo. _'Is this human flirting?'_ Then the follow-up. _'Would it be inappropriate to say I'm glad you're_ both _here?'_ Suvi had to stop herself from turning, mostly because her glare couldn't pass through the Pathfinder to get to Kallo. _'Not right now. Seems like you're having a moment, but I'm not sure.'_

 _'Kallo, shut up!'_ she sent back, before keeping up the illusion that there was something that actually demanded her attention. They had talked about a few choice interactions with Sara while on the bridge together, though Suvi had yet to truly vocalize her feelings for the Pathfinder. To anybody. For the ever critical Kallo, it probably wasn't a blind guess.

"Suvi...uh..." Sara's voice drew the science officer's gaze back to her, noticing that the Pathfinder's gaze was averted. "I'm...really glad you volunteered to join our crew by the way."

Suvi smiled, a bit flustered by the Pathfinder's direct honesty. She truly didn't mind the evasive flirty behavior, or her teasing charm, but sincerity was found less commonly from Sara. "I am too," Suvi replied, offering a kind smile. "New galaxy and all. I'm honored to be here."

Sara's smile became strained, brow furrowing before she looked down at her feet. "No, I mean..." The Pathfinder paused long enough for Suvi to tell something was wrong just from her expression alone. The gears started turning in her head just as Sara looked back up, eyes hesitant, yet with an undeniable edge to them—like she was squaring herself up. "I think you're cute and I like seeing you up here," she blurted out with a quarter of a breath.

That she did not expect to hear coming out of the Pathfinder's mouth. Suvi's cheeks flared up brightly again, eyes widening as her mouth fell open. She didn't even notice she was holding her breath for a solid five seconds while gawking like an absolute idiot.

"Oh my goodness, Ryder!"

"Also, the accent," she continued—rather boldly. "The accent is—I mean, it's not the only thing, but...uh..." Sara's expression slowly changed as her face paled in contrast to Suvi's burning cheeks. For the first time since waking up in Heleus, Suvi's mind had slammed to a complete, dead stop. She wasn't sure whether to laugh or duck down and hide under her chair. The Pathfinder had confessed her feelings so suddenly, all Suvi could do was just move her lips in an attempt to formulate some response, but no sounds game out of her mouth. "Okay, I should just go over there to the piloting...thing."

"Kill. Me. Now." Kallo being present did not help matters.

Sara turned around as quickly as she could towards Kallo, "Is that a request?" The salarian pilot turned back to his console, humming to himself rather than test his luck.

Without the Pathfinder's panicked, vulnerable gaze on her, Suvi's thoughts came racing back in a flood of confusion, excitement, and caution. But she had known for some time that there was an attraction between the two of them. What a way to admit it for the first time—and with a bloody witness.

"Sara?" Again, the Pathfinder whirled back around to her, looking much less threatening than she had sounded towards Kallo. Suvi offered a smile, exhaling gently to steady her still thumping chest. "Thank you." Sara perked up a bit, though still looked guarded. "And so you know...the feeling's mutual."

Her brow raised up her forehead, eyes fluttering at her words. Then that delightful little smile came back to her face. "...really?" Suvi giggled as her cheeks burned even hotter, but she nodded with her smile growing a bit wider. It in turn infected Sara, as her cute little smirk spread to an elated, beautiful grin. "Yes!" Suvi brought her hand up to cover her laughter. She half expected Sara to do a cheer, though the Pathfinder seemed to catch her own enthusiasm quickly. "I mean, time to pathfind! Serious business, saving everyone...hehe."

Suvi wasn't sure if Ryder was trying to be funny, or just roll right through the awkwardness, but she laughed a little harder behind her hand. Sara started blushing as well, but she swiftly turned around to head to the navigation terminal. The Pathfinder looked back, catching Suvi's eye once more. They both smiled at each other, before Ryder turned forward again.

Was she sure this was a good decision? Suvi came to Andromeda for the sake of scientific endeavors and discoveries that nobody else would ever see—unless they came along for the ride too. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, and truthfully the only thing that made Suvi feel truly inspired again. She didn't come to Andromeda with any intention of looking for romance.

But the Pathfinder—Sara was different. And Suvi did like her. She wouldn't try to lie or deny that fact—not after that painful confession. She respected Sara too much to give her anything less than her full honesty. But...one thing at a time.

Suvi's console beeped again before she could give any further thoughts on the subject—another message from Kallo. _'So...that was awkward.'_

* * *

 **So, obviously I'm always the first one to admit my own shortcomings in my stories. The last scene felt rushed to me, but it was also one of those scenes that was already written out so...limiting arrangements. Honestly, I just really wanted to get something posted after SO long. Which leads me toooooooo**

 **Life. Life is stressful and busy and life demands time and work. Unfortunately, my muse is a fickle thing, and my thoughts are always scattered, so I have trouble pinning myself down to an idea I've got no motivation for, while another concept of mine is burnin' hot. (Namely, if I have any readers from Frigid Future, I'm so goddamn eternally sorry, and no I'm not giving up on it. Just...ugh, I'm so sorry, I totally totally suck)**

 **Okay, so this story though, it's becoming personal to me, and I've kinda got the story mapped out. Part of my whole life drama (not that anybody asked) has involved a therapist, aaaaaaaand...that probably shows. Honestly, Sara and Lexi are just so fun for me to write (and there will be more of them), and anyway, temporary soapbox to encourage anyone out there struggling with mental wellness to reach out and talk to a professional, and to definitely NOT hold things back. You don't have to go charging through it like an Architect's face, but at least crack that door open just an inch. It's helped me overall (maybe not with keeping up on my fanfictions) and I would encourage anyone to try their best. I can't promise they'll be like Lexi, because most people don't have the benefit of being BFFs with their therapist, but they are there to help you. And if you need help, don't be scared to ask for it.**

 **ANYWAY, I hope you all have been doing wonderfully, thank you A THOUSAND TIMES for reading this far, and I hope you've been enjoying the story up to this point, and hope even more so that it will continue bringing you enjoyment and maybe some smiles. As a forewarning, some scenes (namely ones involving Sara's past) may get a little...dark, and I'll do my best to give warnings at the start of whatever chapters those might be. This chapter was ALMOST one of those, but...I felt the hefty dark stuff REALLY took away from the positive fluffy stuff, plus it really just dragged things out (who am I to talk with my nonexistent deadlines, right?) As always, reviews are appreciated and feed my addition to writing, stay safe, and have a wonderful evening/night/tomorrow!**


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